05/19/26 05:00:00
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05/19 16:58 CDT Roger Goodell says the NFL is cooperating with the Florida AG
after receiving subpoena
Roger Goodell says the NFL is cooperating with the Florida AG after receiving
subpoena
By ROB MAADDI
AP Pro Football Writer
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) --- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league is
cooperating with Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier after being issued a
subpoena.
Uthmeier sent the subpoena to the NFL on May 13 as his office investigates
whether the league has committed potential civil rights violations related to
the Rooney Rule and the league's other employment practices, policies and
programs.
"I think we have been very clear about our programs, and we obviously evaluate
them all the time, not just for how they get better, but also to make sure that
they're consistent with the law," Goodell said Tuesday during league meetings
in Orlando, Florida. "We're engaging with the Florida attorney general and will
continue to. We'll share everything we're doing with them. We think it's
certainly within the law, but also something very positive."
Uthmeier threatened possible enforcement actions against the league in March if
it didn't suspend the 23-year-old Rooney Rule, which requires NFL teams to
interview at least two external minority candidates for head coach, general
manager and coordinator positions. At least one minority candidate must be
interviewed for the quarterbacks coach position.
Uthmeier said in a letter to Goodell that the Rooney Rule amounts to "blatant
race and sex discrimination."
The subpoena orders the league to appear at the attorney general's office in
Tallahassee, Florida, on June 12. It asks the league to produce extensive
documents, including "all diversity reports, coaching census data, or
demographic surveys that reflect the race and sex of coaching staffs of the
teams from 2017 to the present."
Among the programs being reviewed by Uthmeier's office is the accelerator
program, which the league created in 2022 as an extension of the Rooney Rule to
increase diversity among coaches and front office executives.
The accelerator program gives participants an opportunity to connect with
owners and team executives, and attend informative sessions designed to equip
them for future interviews.
The NFL held its revamped accelerator program on Monday and Tuesday in Orlando
after pausing it last May. It now includes nonminority participants and nearly
half of this year's group were white men.
"There are a lot of candidates up there that are diverse, that are getting the
opportunity to improve themselves and to get exposure, to get an opportunity,"
Goodell said. "So, the people that are up there are the best of the best and
they are a very diverse group, but they are the best of the best. And what
we're trying to do here is to make them even better and to give them
opportunities. And that's what I heard is that one, they appreciate the
opportunity; two, it was helpful in that."
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