NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says diversity makes the league stronger

With the election of President Donald Trump, DEI programs in the Federal government and around the country have been called into question. Several major corporations including Walmart, Target, McDonald’s and Lowes have been identified as scaling back or pulling out of their DEI initiatives.

Falcons owner Arthur Blank is long-standing member of the NFL’s diversity committee.

“We make ourselves better when we have that,” Goodell said. “It’s something that I think will have a tremendous impact on this league for many, many years. We always, we win on the field with the best talent and the best coaching. I think that is also true off the field.”

During Goodell’s tenure as commissioner, the NFL has expanded its diversity efforts into the front offices of the teams and in the league office.

“We have gotten into diversity efforts because we felt it was the right thing for the National Football League,” Goodell said. “We’re going to continue (with) those efforts because we’ve not only convinced ourselves, that we’ve proven to ourselves, that it does make the NFL better. So, we’re not in this, because this is a trend to get into a trend to get out of it.”

Goodell noted that the league doesn’t have control over some of their sponsors who may have an opposite stance on DEI programs and initiatives.

“Our efforts are fundamental in trying to attract the best possible talent into the National Football League both on and off the field,” Goodell said. “We see that. We see how it’s benefited the National Football League. I think we’ll continue those efforts. I think it’s also clearly a reflection of our database and our communities and our players.”

The NFL continues to struggle with the Rooney Rule, which has expanded to mandate interviews of minority candidates for head coaching and coordinator positions.

Some coaches have become frustrated with allegedly “sham” interviews. New England attracted attention when it hired Mike Vrabel after interviewing Black candidates Pep Hamilton and Byron Leftwich.

The Falcons, who were in the market for new defensive coordinator, interviewed Steve Wilks, Grady Brown and Derrick Ansley, who are Black while the perception was that Jeff Ulbrich, a personal friend of coach Raheem Morris and former assistant with the team, was already the favorite for the job.

“I think anytime you go through a good process, and I think the Rooney Rule is a part of that process, and an important part of that process,” Goodell said. “There’s more to it. It’s only one aspect of our policies, but I think going through that is obviously a very positive step.”

Goodell noted that the league follows up with candidates to determine if they were a part of a “sham” interview.

“We speak about the sincerity, the thoroughness of an interview to make sure that we’re doing that in a proper fashion,” Goodell said. “So, I think all of the steps that have been made are followed up and evaluated. I feel comfortable that it’s being done the right way.”

Some other topics covered by Goodell included:

- Host city: This will be the 12th time that New Orleans has hosted the Super Bowl, more than any other city.

“I think this community has such a way of putting an event on,” Goodell said. “I think the people here wrap their arms around it and make the event better because of their attitude, because of who they are, because of the pride in this community, their resilience … we realized that this is a place that is sort of perfect for the Super Bowl.”

- Flag football: The NFL noted that Louisiana became the 15th state to sanction girls’ high school flag football.

“We’re exploring very aggressively now, an opportunity to create professionals, likely for both men and women, obviously, two different leagues,” Goodell said. “I think this is something that we’ve been working on for several months.”

There is interest from players and investors.

“I think (they) recognize, particularly in the women’s sports place, where it’s real,” Goodell said. “It’s something that I think we all want to be part of.”

- On officials allegedly favoring the Chiefs: Goodell took umbrage with the view of some on social media that the Chiefs get all of the favorable calls from the officials.

“Well, this sort of reminds me a little bit of the script, right?,” Goodell quipped. “That I write the script. I have the script for the entire season. Listen, you know, I think from a lot of those theories are things that happen in social media and they give it a new life.

“It’s out there. Nobody wants it to be their theory. I understand that. I think it reflects a lot of the fans’ passion. It’s also is a reminder for us how important officiating is.”

Goodell supported the league’s officials.

“I think the men and women that are officiating in the NFL are outstanding, the highest possible standards,” Goodell said. “That’s a ridiculous theory for anyone who might take it seriously. But at the end of the day, it’s something we always have to continue to work on. How do we make our officiating better at all times?”

He gave the Chiefs, the two-time defending Super Bowl champions, credit for being a great football team.

“If you look at the Chiefs’ record, which I think is amazing,” Goodell said. “The thing people talk about is the competitiveness our league. The Chiefs, with their 15 wins, 15 and two this year, 11 of those 15 games were within one score. I think that talks about the competitiveness of our game and the importance of how we officiate it, but also the competitiveness of how we play it.”

- 18-game season: He said they’ll have to negotiate an 18-game season with the NFL Players Association.

- Independent media access: With the NFL having it’s own media arm, new media partnerships and team websites, some teams are cutting back the access to the traditional independent media.

“We think our media polices are really important,” Goodell said. “Access to (the independent) media … you’re the connection between (the teams) and the fans, it’s incredibly important. ... The reality is we do think access is important for the media.”

But the NFLPA has sought to restrict access under the name of player privacy.

“There are ways to balance that which we have tried to do over the last several decades to also consider the players’ perspective and other perspectives as far as the team may have,” Goodell said.