Opponents of the controversial Rooney Rule in the National Football League got a powerful boost from the attorney general of the state of Florida.
AG James Uthmeier posted a video Wednesday explaining that the rule requiring teams to interview minority candidates for open hiring positions violates Florida laws against discrimination.
‘We are putting Commissioner Roger Goodell on notice: the Rooney Rule violates Florida law, and it must stop.’
“Professional sports are a visible example of a merit-based system, but through the Rooney Rule, the NFL requires its teams to use race-based hiring practices,” Uthmeier wrote on the post on social media. “We are putting Commissioner Roger Goodell on notice: the Rooney Rule violates Florida law, and it must stop.”
He demanded that the NFL suspend the Rooney Rule and threatened legal action if it refused.
“Florida law is clear. Hiring decisions cannot be based on race, and the Rooney Rule mandates race-based interviews and incentivizes race-based decisions. That’s discrimination,” he added.
Former “SportsCenter” commentator Jemele Hill appeared to be outraged by the demand.
“So just to be clear: Florida is trying to challenge the NFL on the Rooney Rule when there are 3 Black coaches in the NFL, two Black offensive coordinators, and four Black general managers,” she wrote on social media.
“This is out of 32 teams. It seems like the system has worked swimmingly well for white guys, so … what’s the issue?” she added.
Others have spoken out against the rule, including BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock.
“The Rooney Rule inspired, encouraged, fosters racism. The Rooney Rule has been a mistake and needs to end. The Rooney Rule was the NFL saying, ‘Yep, we’ll hire any player. We’ll pay any of these black players $10, $15, $20, now $50 and $60 million a year. But you know what? When it comes to the head coaching position and these executive positions, we’re racist,'” Whitlock said in Aug. 2025.
“It hasn’t ended racism,” he added. “It hasn’t ended the allegations of racism. It’s actually inspired them.”
RELATED: Chicago Bears GM calls NFL’s race-based hiring ‘strange’ as league struggles with DEI incentive
“NFL teams and their fans don’t care about the race of the coaching staff. They want a merit-based system that gives their team the best chance to win,” Uthmeier concluded.
In February, Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles admitted that he didn’t see the rationale for the rule.
“I’ll be honest. I think it is a little strange,” he said. “I mean, at the end of the day, you should want to develop your staff regardless of the color of their skin.”
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