Because the Department of Defense started paying most professional sports leagues to make playing the national anthem before the game a big deal with huge flags when support for the Iraq War started to fade in the mid-late 2000s....I just don't understand why the anthem is even played at sporting events.
it's a fucking promotion, an advertisement....... and this qualifies as a sponsorship - so the sponsor gets to dictate what is acceptable to show during it's paid air time.....