Florida AG is warning that the rule can create diversity.
The owner of the National Football League’s Miami Dolphins franchise, Stephen Ross, likes holding the Super Bowl in his south Florida stadium. He gets paid for every big event in the stadium with public dollars. The NFL has had Super Bowls in Tampa and in Jacksonville. With the renovation of Shad Khan’s Jacksonville stadium, Jacksonville could be in line to get a Super Bowl. But the Attorney General of Florida James Uthmeier may have ended Jacksonville, south Florida and Tampa’s chances at getting a Super Bowl in the near future. Uthmeier wants the three Florida teams to not abide by the league’s Rooney Rule because it encourages diversity. Uthmeier said the Rooney Rule violates Florida law by “requiring race-based considerations in hiring.” Uthmeier is threatening the NFL with “enforcement actions against the league for race-based discrimination.” He added. “Under NFL policy, therefore, a franchise may wish to hire an experienced, highly qualified candidate, but it can’t do so for certain positions if the candidate happens to belong to a particular race. At least not immediately. These methods of directing the selection and training of certain executives, coaches, and other employees based on skin color and sex is discriminatory and violates Florida law.“
Uthmeier’s threats probably sound pretty good to some in America’s culture war but in reality, the NFL can say sure, do what you want but we don’t have to give you a Super Bowl, we don’t have to give you an NFL Draft and you will lose that economic impact. Players can say, you know we can leave Florida as soon as our contracts are gone. The Rooney Rule is designed to increase the number of African-American coaches in the league. That hasn’t exactly happened. There are just three African American head coaches in the league. None of them were hired in 2026.
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James Uthmeier
