Roger Goodell Discusses The NFL's Full-On Embrace Of Its DEI Program Which Is Not Being Rolled Back
NEW ORLEANS – A considerable list of corporations and businesses in the United States have announced they are shuttering their diversity, equity and inclusion programs because they apparently figured out that hiring based on race or gender doesn't often lead to finding the most qualified people. Well, the NFL doesn't share that opinion and isn't rolling back its DEI program.
The NFL's robust DEI arm is going to remain, commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday. And his defense of the league's DEI program was so positioned as to make it sound as if it's not about tipping the scales to minorities and women at all.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - FEBRUARY 3: NFL commissioner Roger Goodell smiles during a news conference ahead of the NFL Super Bowl LIX football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs at Caesars Superdome on February 3, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
Goodell: DEI Makes NFL Better
"I am proud in this sense in that I believe our diversity efforts are making the NFL better," Goodell said at his annual state-of-the NFL press conference. "It's attracted better talent. We think when we get different perspectives, people with different backgrounds, whether they're women or men or people of color, we make ourselves stronger.
"And we make ourselves better when we have that. It's something that I think will have a tremendous impact on this league for many, many years. We win on the field with the best talent and the best coaching and I think the same is true off the field."
DEI programs in corporate America are failing because people who are more talented are losing out to less talented job candidates.
That has happened and cannot be disputed.
And in July 2023, the Supreme Court ruled race-based affirmative action in college admissions is unconstitutional, which led to scrutiny about the practice in corporate America.
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NFL DEI Remains Despite Rollbacks
But Goodell is threading the needle of keeping the NFL's DEI active by saying it adds talent to the league that otherwise it would miss hiring.
"Our policies have been designed to be well within the law, well within the practice," Goodell said. "There are no quotas within our system. This is about opening that funnel and bringing the best talent into the NFL, and so we are confident of that …"
So the NFL plans to remain steadfast on DEI under Goodell despite the tide that is rolling in against the programs nationally.
"Listen, we got into diversity efforts because we felt it was the right thing for the National Football League," Goodell said. "And we're going to continue these efforts because we not only convinced ourselves but have proven to ourselves that it does make the NFL better.
"We're not in this because there's a trend to get in or a trend to get out. Our efforts are fundamental in trying to attract the best possible talent into the National Football League both on and off the field."

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - FEBRUARY 3: NFL commissioner Roger Goodell smiles during a news conference ahead of the NFL Super Bowl LIX football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs at Caesars Superdome on February 3, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
Goodell Defends Rooney Rule
Goodell sounds like a true believer, and it sounds sincere until he says this about the league's position on DEI:
"I think it's clearly a reflection of our fan base and our communities and our players," he said.
Well, it reflects part of the fan base but all but dismisses another significant part. And DEI doesn't apply to players at all because team rosters function exclusively on a meritocracy.
Goodell also put on a strong defense for the Rooney Rule, which compels clubs to interview at least two minority or female candidates for head coaching, general manager and coordinator positions and also has other requirements for lesser coaching positions.
Goodell said the rule has no requirement to hire an individual on the basis of race or gender.
"It's simply a basis of looking at a canvass of candidates that reflect our communities and to look at the kind of talent that exists there, and then you make the decision on who is hired," he added.

Feb 3, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; NFL commissioner Roger Goodell speaks as moderator Curt Menefee watches during a press conference ahead of Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Reporters Show Their Stripes
The rule applies among individual clubs but Goodell said the league is doing it on all levels voluntarily "because it has benefited us."
This press conference, by the way, was not just informative in learning how the NFL and Goodell view DEI, but also in learning the bent of reporters covering the topic.
One reporter phrased his question by claiming "it's no secret the White House has gone to war against diversity," and that a majority of NFL owners have been supportive of the Republican Party..."
Another wanted to know what the NFL would do if NFL corporate sponsors participated in any DEI rollbacks.

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 23: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing a series of executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on January 23, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump signed a range of executive orders pertaining to issues including crypto currency, Artificial Intelligence, and clemency for anti-abortion activists. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
About that one, Goodell said something interesting that will require a closer look at some DEI rollback lists that circulate in the media:
NFL Consistent With Trump Administration?
"Well, we don't make policies for our sponsors or any of the corporations or networks and partners that we deal with," Goodell said. "We have a lot of conversations about the importance of it to us. We will obviously take that into consideration.
"But I think, eventually, there have been a lot of corporations that have been tied to so-called changing their diversity policies and haven't really. And they've called directly about that. So, there's a lot of conversations that go on about that."
Goodell did not mention which corporations have called to say they remain full-on DEI advocates while getting attention for being the opposite.
And as to the NFL running counter to a Donald Trump White House that is against DEI, the NFL commissioner denies that's true.
"We also believe we're doing the right thing for the NFL," he said. "And our policies are consistent with the current administration as well as the last administration."