The NFL: A Case Study in Contradiction That Fans Can’t Ignore
The league’s habit of mixed messaging is tied to its unparalleled success, which it leverages to its advantage.
By Carron J. Phillips
If people like you enough, they’ll let you get away with almost anything. It’s why Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen keeps getting the benefit of the doubt despite his postseason performances. Or how the NFL can consistently break viewership records while frustrating fans from both sides of the aisle.
It doesn’t matter how often conservatives and liberals express their grievances with how the league addresses social issues; the NFL knows that fans, regardless of their political views, are never going to turn the games off.
Recently, the NFL has found new ways to perplex fans while still delivering a captivating product, with this season’s postseason one of the league’s best in years. After the New England Patriots defeated the Houston Texans in the divisional round of the AFC Playoffs, Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was fined almost $12,000 for breaking the league’s uniform and equipment policy, which forbids players from displaying personal or political messages unless they’ve been approved by the league. Al-Shaair’s decision to write “stop the genocide” on his eye black violated the rule.
“I knew that it was a fine, but I understood what I was doing,” he said after the game.
“It’s bigger than me,” he explained. “There are things that are going on that make people uncomfortable. Imagine how those people feel.” His fine came the same weekend that the league “honored” The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy by displaying “CHOOSE LOVE” in the end zone.
“Dr. King’s message continues to guide how we show up in meaningful moments across the league,” Anna Isaacson, senior vice president of social responsibility for the NFL, said in a statement. “‘Choose Love’ has become an important and widely embraced message for our teams because it reflects the values Dr. King championed — dignity, empathy, and a commitment to our shared humanity. Bringing it forward in the Divisional Round and again at Super Bowl LX reflects that continued relevance.”
It’s always impressive to see how far this league will bend to avoid accountability while remaining flexible enough to still put its foot in its mouth. The ironic dexterity is similar to when President Donald Trump announced during last year’s Black History Month reception at the White House that King would be included in the National Garden of American Heroes only to recently undermine civil rights as a suggestive vehicle of “reverse racism.” He didn’t recognize MLK Day until it was almost over, and apparently only after criticism.
Trump’s “entanglement” with the NFL has lasted for decades, as both sides seem to understand that they need each other, despite how much or little they actually like each other. In November, Trump started a campaign to get the Washington Commanders to name their new stadium after him and showed up to a game in which the network broadcasting the game allowed him nearly 10 minutes of airtime on live television. The situation took place just weeks after multiple teams around the league held pregame observances for Charlie Kirk — a man who never seemed to “CHOOSE LOVE.”
However, despite all that has transpired, the Bad Bunny Super Bowl Halftime Show performance epitomizes the NFL’s fickle nature. The selection of a Puerto Rican star who raps in Spanish and stands against Immigration and Customs Enforcement annoyed Trump and enraged conservatives so much that Turning Point USA is supposedly throwing an alternative “All-American” halftime show that will celebrate “faith, family, and freedom.” Less than three weeks from kickoff, details about the show have yet to be released.
At last year’s Super Bowl, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell declined to follow Trump’s lead when it came to repealing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, saying that diversity efforts “make the NFL better.” The year prior, Goodell said that he preferred if players “have voices” — not just during contentious political cycles, “but every single day.”
Now, though, the NFL’s mercurial oscillations cost Al-Shaair almost $12,000.
Carron J. Phillips is an award-winning journalist who writes on race, culture, social issues, politics, and sports. He hails from Saginaw, Michigan, and is a graduate of Morehouse College and Syracuse University.
One has to remember that the NFL is owned by the robber barons.
And yet Kaepernick had to reach a settlement with the NFL instead of working in the NFL. For what? kneeling!