Roger Goodell defends diversity policy after Florida AG challenges Rooney Rule: 'We are well aware of the laws'

PHOENIX — The NFL has no plans to change its Rooney Rule policies despite a warning and threat from Florida’s attorney general.

Florida AG James Uthmeier sent NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a letter last week alleging that the league’s policy on interviewing minority candidates “brazenly violates Florida law.” Uthmeier closed a four-page later with a request for the NFL to confirm by May 1 that it “will no longer enforce the Rooney Rule or any variation or extension thereof” in Florida.

“Failure to provide such confirmation may result in a civil rights enforcement action,” Uthmeier said in the letter.

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Goodell, speaking Tuesday at the league’s annual meeting, dismissed the notion that the Rooney Rule conflicts with Florida law. He also confirmed the league is not eliminating its policy.

“No, no, the Rooney Rule’s been around a long time,” Goodell said. “We’ve evolved, we’ve changed it. We’ll continue to do that as the circumstances warrant …

“[But] one thing that doesn’t change is our values, and we believe that diversity has been a benefit to the National Football League.”

The NFL instituted the Rooney Rule in 2003 in an effort to expand and deepen the pool of qualified minority candidates interviewing for head-coaching positions. The league has expanded the Rooney Rule in the decades since, requiring teams to interview at least two diverse candidates in each head coaching, general manager and coordinator hiring process, as well as at least one diverse candidate for each quarterback coach hire.

Diverse candidates, per the policy, include candidates who are racial minorities and/or women.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during a news conference at the NFL football annual meetings, Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

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Uthmeier’s letter challenged the Rooney Rule as well as league training and development programs for minority candidates. Goodell challenged the idea that the policy creates discriminative hiring processes as teams are not required to hire minority candidates; only to interview them.

“We are well aware of the laws and where the laws are changing or evolving,” Goodell said. “We think the Rooney Rule is consistent with those, and we certainly will engage with the Florida AG or anybody else as we have in the past to talk about our policies and what they are.

“As you know, the Rooney Rule is not a hiring mandate. It’s intended to try to help and it’s been used by industries far beyond football and far beyond the United States to help identify candidates in a diverse setting to bring in better talent and give us an opportunity to hire the best talent ultimately. And folks make those decisions individually. And those are, I think, principles of how we try to get better, bring the best talent.”

Goodell also discussed the latest on the Chicago Bears’ stadium controversies, the viability of NFL players in the 2028 Olympics and more. Here are some highlights:

Replacement refs?

Goodell echoed the fine line that league sources had indicated earlier in the week with regard to the potential hiring of replacement officials should the NFL fail to strike a new collective bargaining agreement with the referees’ union:

The NFL insists it is negotiating in good faith, Goodell adding the league is “keenly focused on negotiations.” But also: The league does not plan to wait until the May 31 expiration of its CBA with the NFL Referees Association (NFLRA) to begin recruiting and hiring officials that can replace the current group if the union and league don’t reach a deal. Amid disagreements on compensation, accountability standards and postseason assignments, negotiations stalled last week.

“The negotiations haven’t progressed the way we hoped from a timing standpoint,” Goodell said. “We obviously have obligations to our fans, to everybody in the National Football League to play, and we’ll be prepared to play.”

The NFL is interested in making some officials full-time but does not think performance improvement hinges on that. Goodell pointed to the 2019 CBA that allowed the league to hire some full-time officials, noting that round-the-clock availability matters less to league executives than does access to train and develop officials in between February and May, particularly for low-performing officials.

“I’ve been very positive about our officials,” Goodell said. “They do an extraordinary job under extraordinary circumstances. But we can still get better. And we’ve been very clear about that. And we know that we can take officials who aren’t performing at that level and either work with them to get better or find other officials who can do it.”

Bears explore moving states

The Chicago Bears currently play at historic Soldier Field in downtown Chicago, practicing in the nearby Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, Illinois. But amid lengthy negotiations failing to create agreement on an Illinois stadium, the Bears are exploring a Northwest Indiana stadium, team president Kevin Warren said in a December letter to fans.

Goodell was asked Tuesday whether he felt it appropriate for a historic franchise to leave its neighborhood. He supported the Bears’ exploration.

“They’re focused on looking at the best resolution to a stadium,” Goodell said. “They’re still playing in Soldier Field, which has got a lot of great tradition. But as far as advancements and technology and advancements in the quality of the stadium for the fan experience, I would say it’s not at the top of the list there. And so they need to find a solution for a stadium. And they have looked not only in Indiana, but also in Illinois and other sites and invested in a site. So I think they have been responsible in that fact. And I think it’s really important that they come [to] a resolution on this relatively soon. It’s important. I’ve spoken to officials in Illinois.

“I think this is an important time to get this result sooner rather than later.”

Expansion of mental health support

The NFL passed a resolution this week that all clubs must employ a full-time mental health clinician on site. The resolution expands upon a provision in the 2020 CBA that mandated teams hire part-time clinicians to be on site for at least 8-12 hours per week.

The resource expansion comes after a six-month stretch in which two players, Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland and Vikings receiver Rondale Moore, were found dead by apparent suicide.

“We think [this is] going to be very helpful in helping people deal with those issues,” Goodell said. “And don’t wait for a crisis. We want to be ahead of that, prevent crisis. We want to help people adjust and adapt and be in a better position to make the best decisions.”

Are Olympic flag dreams alive?

Earlier this month, the Fanatics Flag Football Classic contextualized how different the NFL is from the five-on-five, non-contact flag football game headed to the 2028 Olympic stage. USA’s national team swept a collection of current and former NFL players in the tournament as the elimination of physicality, difference in ideal body types and unique skill of flag-pulling changed the calculus of success from what NFL players were used to.

Goodell still believes NFL players can make Olympic teams. He also believes that would be good for the game.

“I think we’ll see NFL players in the Olympics,” Goodell said. “They want to play.

“I think it’ll be great for football. I think it’d be great for the fans.”

Roger Goodell defends diversity policy after Florida AG challenges Rooney Rule: ‘We are well aware of the laws’

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