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.
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“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.”
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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)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Uthmeier’s letter challenged the Rooney Rule as well as league training and…
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