Florida attorney general issues subpoena to NFL over Rooney Rule

The NFL's problems extend beyond the federal government's current political proctology regarding the broadcast antitrust exemption. Florida's attorney general continues to harass The Shield over the Rooney Rule and other diversity-related initiatives.

James Uthmeier posted on Twitter his most recent letter to the league. The letter attached an "investigative subpoena," which Uthmeier did not add to his tweet. (Uthmeier also did not attach the NFL's May 1 response to Uthmeier's initial letter.)

The letter Uthmeier sent to the league on Wednesday says plenty. It suggests that the league has violated the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by revising "many references" on its public website to its allegedly "unlawful 'inclusive hiring' policies." (Kalyn Kahler of ESPN has pointed out the various changes that have been made.)

From the new Uthmeier letter: "[Y]ou say the NFL has scrubbed those representations from its website because they do no 'accurately reflect the NFL's current programs and policies.' Why, then, were they there to begin with?"

As a result, the legal assault by Uthmeier on the NFL now has two fronts: (1) "the Rooney Rule and the NFL's related 'inclusive hiring' policies"; and (2) "the NFL's representations about those policies."

Initially, Uthmeier focused only on the Rooney Rule and demanded that the league suspended it as to the NFL's three teams based in Florida (Jaguars, Buccaneers, Dolphins). The new letter targets multiple diversity-related initiatives. For example, the new letter focuses on the provision that gives a pair of third-round draft picks to teams "who developed minority talent that went on to become GMs or head coaches across the league."

Writes Uthmeier: "You claim, with emphasis, that these draft 'picks are only offered after an employee has been hired by another team as a head coach.' Italics aside, so what? In the end, this program provides a 'retroactiv[e]-reward[]' for the initial hiring and development of minority candidates. This is not a race-neutral employment policy. It is a directive that Florida's teams consider race and sex in determining which candidates should be hired and developed. Florida law prohibits such policies."

The new letter from Uthmeier shows that the NFL's response didn't make the situation any better, from Uthmeier's perspective. If anything, Uthmeier believes it made things worse.

Now, the NFL will have to decide whether and to what extent it will cooperate with the subpoena issued by Uthmeier. Then, Uthmeier will have to decide whether to launch a formal enforcement action, either as to the alleged racial biases in the NFL's diversity initiatives or as to the alleged misrepresentations made by the NFL, or both.

It also remains to be seen whether and to what extent the federal government will expand its scrutiny of the league's broadcasting policies to include a closer look at the league's diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

However it goes from here, the league has multiple public political problems that, to date, it has been unable to solve.