Florida AG issues investigative subpoena to NFL over Rooney Rule
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who in March threatened potential civil motion in opposition to the NFL over the Rooney Rule, has issued an investigative subpoena to the league.
In a brand new letter to commissioner Roger GoodellUthmeier famous the NFL altered the language on its web site after receiving its preliminary warning letter, writing that the league had “capitulated on some of their discriminatory hiring quotas,” whereas arguing the revisions raised extra questions concerning the coverage.
The NFL’s earlier Rooney Rule description on its web site said the coverage aimed to “increase the number of minorities hired” in management positions and mentioned that variety “enriches the game and creates a more effective, quality organization.”
The league additionally eliminated the sentence that mentioned that the Rooney Rule “aims to increase the number of minorities hired” and adjusted it to say the RR “expands the pool of candidates considered” and added that the candidates are “qualified.” pic.twitter.com/D92gurXqkd
— Kalyn Kahler (@kalynkahler) May 13, 2026
The present model as an alternative describes the Rooney Rule as a set of “best practices designed to expand opportunity” and says the coverage is meant to guarantee certified candidates “from a wide range of backgrounds” are thought-about for management roles.
The adjustments seem to soften or take away express references to growing minority hiring, a central criticism raised by Uthmeier in his problem to the coverage.
The NFL did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
While Uthmeier’s unique letter centered on the Rooney Rule, his subpoena expands that scope to most of the NFL’s variety, fairness and inclusion initiatives, together with a now discontinued mandate that required groups rent a minority offensive assistant, the league’s variety accelerator program, and the league’s 2020 decision that awards a third-round compensatory draft choose for 2 years if a minority assistant coach or govt a group developed is employed away as a coach or normal supervisor.
Uthmeier mentioned he recommended the league’s efforts in updating the NFL’s web site “to strike many references to its unlawful ‘inclusive hiring’ policies,” however argued that the adjustments might elevate issues underneath Florida’s misleading and unfair commerce practices legal guidelines.
“Now you say the NFL has scrubbed those representations from its website because they do not ‘accurately reflect the NFL’s current programs and policies,'” the letter reads. “Why, then, were they there to begin with?”
ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler contributed to this report.
