Roger Goodell: Diversity efforts ‘make the NFL better’ and will continue

Like “woke,” “political correctness,” “affirmative action,” and “cancel culture”  before it, “DEI” is a phrase that began as a well-intentioned effort with a real definition before America’s right-wing turned it into a bad word.

While diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are meant to provide fair treatment and full participation of people who have been historically underrepresented, it has been repurposed as a catch-all phrase meant to say those who might benefit from it are undeserving. As Slate’s Rafiel Deon Warfield put it, The Right has turned DEI into a “slur” all its own.

In the wake of Donald Trump’s re-election as President of the United States, many corporations have been getting in line and announcing that they would discontinue their DEI programs, presumably as a form of appeasement.

On Monday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell met with the media for his annual Super Bowl Week press conference. Goodell, who has a history of being asked about the league’s diversity efforts at this event, was asked if the NFL remains steadfast in its DEI efforts or if they were also considering capitulating.

Roger Goodell on continuing the NFL’s DEI policies:

“It does make the NFL better. We’re not in this because it’s a trend to get in or a trend to get out of it. Our efforts are fundamental in trying to attract the best possible talent.” pic.twitter.com/cYMK6sfjI7

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 3, 2025

“We got into diversity efforts because we felt it was the right thing for the National Football League,” said Goodell. “And we’re gonna continue to do those efforts because we’ve not only convinced ourselves, I think we’ve proven to ourselves, that it does make the NFL better. We’re not in this because it’s a trend to get in or a trend to get out of it. Our efforts are fundamental in trying to attract the best possible talent into the National Football League, both on and off the field… I think we’ll continue those efforts. I think it’s also clearly a reflection of our fanbase and our communities and our players.”

Goodell then shifted focus to The Rooney Rule, the oft-maligned requirement that NFL teams interview minority candidates for major positions, which many feel gets taken advantage of and gamed by teams.

“The Rooney Rule for us is there’s no requirement to hire a particular individual on the basis of race or gender,” he said. “It’s simply on the basis of looking at a canvas of candidates that reflect our communities. To look at the kind of talent that exists there, and then you make the best decision on who is hired. So many of us, including in the National Football League at our office, are doing that voluntarily at all levels because it has benefitted us.”

It probably would be easy for the NFL to publically kowtow to the Trump administration and say they were reassessing their practices or something similar. But as Goodell says, there’s really no downside to opening doors to everyone when you’re trying to hire the best person for the job, even if there are narratives out there that would suggest otherwise.

It says something that an organization as powerful as the NFL sees a path forward here, though there’s still plenty of work to be done on that front. Something tells us Jim Trotter might have had a few more questions had he been there.

Goodell’s answer may not sit well with President Trump, who is probably trying to figure out how to slap a tariff on NFL tickets now.