Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has issued an investigative subpoena to the NFL, the report says. The move follows an earlier warning in which Uthmeier threatened potential civil action against the league over its Rooney Rule, per the report.
In a new letter to commissioner Roger Goodell, Uthmeier noted that the NFL altered the Rooney Rule language on its website after receiving his initial warning, writing that the league had “capitulated on some of their discriminatory hiring quotas,” the report says. He argued the website revisions raise additional questions about the policy and its presentation.
The report says the NFL’s previous Rooney Rule description stated the policy aimed to “increase the number of minorities hired” in leadership positions and said diversity “enriches the game and creates a more effective, quality organization.” The current version instead characterizes the Rooney Rule as a set of “best practices designed to expand opportunity” and says it is intended to ensure qualified candidates “from a wide range of backgrounds” are considered for leadership roles. The changes appear to soften or remove explicit references to increasing minority hiring, which the report identifies as a central criticism in Uthmeier’s challenge.
According to the report, the subpoena broadens the inquiry beyond the Rooney Rule to include many of the NFL’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Those matters list a now-discontinued mandate that required teams to hire a minority offensive assistant, the league’s diversity accelerator program and a 2020 resolution that awards a third-round compensatory draft pick for two years if a minority assistant coach or executive a team developed is hired away as a coach or general manager.
Uthmeier said he commended the league’s efforts “to strike many references to your unlawful ‘inclusive hiring’ policies,” but warned the changes could raise concerns under Florida’s deceptive and unfair trade practices laws, the report says. The NFL didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler contributed to this report.
