NFL Cooperates With Florida Subpoena Over 34-Person Accelerator Program as Rooney Rule Faces Legal Challenge
Updated
Updated · Fox News · May 20
NFL Cooperates With Florida Subpoena Over 34-Person Accelerator Program as Rooney Rule Faces Legal Challenge
11 articles · Updated · Fox News · May 20
June 12 is the deadline for the NFL to turn over records on the Rooney Rule and other DEI programs after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued a broad subpoena last week.
Roger Goodell said the league will share its materials and argues its hiring programs are lawful, while stressing they are being reviewed to ensure compliance.
The pressure has coincided with a shift in Goodell’s public framing of the Accelerator Program, from a broad defense of diversity hiring to an emphasis on selecting the "best of the best" regardless of race.
This year’s 34-person Accelerator cohort included 17 White men after earlier versions excluded them, alongside one White woman, 14 Black men and two biracial men.
Uthmeier says the Rooney Rule and the NFL’s inclusive-hiring policies may violate Florida law, putting one of the league’s signature diversity efforts under direct state scrutiny.
As legal pressure mounts, is the NFL's pioneering Rooney Rule facing its final down?
With diversity policies now labeled discriminatory, how can any US company legally promote an inclusive workforce?
Will a strict focus on 'merit' truly eliminate hiring biases or simply mask them in new ways?