Florida AG challenges NFL to abolish Rooney Rule (1:17)
Florida AG challenges NFL to abolish Rooney Rule (1:17)
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Kalyn KahlerMar 27, 2026, 01:02 PM ET
- Kalyn Kahler is a senior NFL writer at ESPN. Kalyn reports on a range of NFL topics. She reported about the influence of coaching agents on NFL hiring and found out what current and former Cowboys players really think about the tour groups of fans that roam about The Star every day. Before joining ESPN in July of 2024, Kalyn wrote for The Athletic, Defector, Bleacher Report and Sports Illustrated. She began her career at Sports Illustrated as NFL columnist Peter King’s assistant. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she was a varsity cheerleader. In her free time, Kalyn takes Spanish classes and teaches Irish dance. You can reach out to Kalyn via email.
Florida’s attorney general is challenging the Rooney Rule and calling on the NFL to suspend it or face possible civil rights action, with the chair of the league’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee telling ESPN that it will have to review the complaint.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sent a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday to express concern that the Rooney Rule — which requires teams to interview external minority candidates for specific positions — is “blatant race and sex discrimination” and that hiring decisions should be based on merit only.
“NFL fans in Florida don’t care what color their coach’s skin is,” Uthmeier wrote. “They care what colors their coach is wearing — and that those colors are winning on the football field.
“The Rooney Rule and its offshoots are illegal in Florida.”
Uthmeier said in a video posted to X on Wednesday that the rule “violates Florida law by requiring race-based considerations in hiring.” In the letter, Uthmeier asked Goodell to “confirm no later than May 1, 2026, that the NFL will no longer enforce the Rooney Rule or any variation or extension thereof — which requires consideration of race, sex, or any other prohibited classification — on teams in Florida. Failure to provide such confirmation may result in a civil rights enforcement action.”
Politico reported that Uthmeier also sent the letter to the owners of the NFL’s three Florida-based teams.
The Rooney Rule, adopted in 2003, requires NFL clubs to interview two external minority candidates for vacant head coach, general manager and coordinator positions. This offseason, Tennessee Titans coach Robert Saleh, who is of Lebanese descent, was the only minority candidate to land a top coaching job, and no Black head coaches were hired for the 10 openings.
Ahead of the Super Bowl, Goodell said the NFL would take a closer look at the Rooney Rule and all that it encompasses to “continue to make progress” on diversity.
A spokesperson for the league office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Uthmeier’s letter.
Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II, who is the chair of the NFL’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee and whose father, Dan, is the namesake of the rule, told ESPN on Friday that he hadn’t seen the letter and that, as of Thursday, Goodell had not received the letter.
Still, Rooney said, upon receipt of the letter, the NFL will have an obligation to consider Uthmeier’s demands.
“There’s no question that the environment has changed in recent years,” Rooney told ESPN. “We do have an obligation to make sure that our policies comply with the laws, whatever the law is, and whatever the changes in law might be. We’ve got to look at that and make sure we’re in compliance. … That’s just the environment we’re existing in today.”
