The NFL is facing renewed legal pressure in Florida after Attorney General James Uthmeier issued an investigative subpoena targeting the league’s diversity hiring practices. The move centers on the NFL’s Rooney Rule, a policy that requires teams to interview minority and female candidates for top football operations jobs, including head-coach and general-manager openings.
According to Bloomberg, Uthmeier announced the subpoena on Wednesday, May 13, in a public social media post, where he also released a copy of a letter sent directly to the league. In the letter, he argued that even after the NFL revised portions of the Rooney Rule earlier this year, the policy may still violate Florida law by encouraging race- and sex-based considerations during hiring decisions.
Originally introduced in 2003, the Rooney Rule was created to expand opportunities for underrepresented candidates across the league. The policy now applies to multiple front-office and coaching roles and requires clubs to interview at least two external minority or female candidates for major vacancies.
The NFL has also attached development incentives to the program, including compensatory draft picks awarded to teams that develop minority coaches or executives who are later hired elsewhere as head coaches or general managers.
The legal fight escalated after Uthmeier previously warned the league in March that the rule could amount to unlawful discrimination. In response, the NFL quietly updated the language on its website and in its policy descriptions.
References stating that the rule was designed to “increase the number of minorities hired” were replaced with wording stating that the policy “expands the pool of candidates considered.”
The league also emphasized that individual teams retain final authority over hiring decisions and clarified that interviewed candidates must be qualified for the role.
Uthmeier seized on those edits in his latest letter, arguing that the wording changes raised additional concerns rather than resolving them. He also challenged several other NFL initiatives focused on mentoring, training, and developing women and minority candidates for leadership positions. According to the attorney general, those programs may conflict with Florida statutes prohibiting employers from making hiring decisions based on race or sex.
At one point in the letter, Uthmeier accused the league of engaging in “deceptive and unfair business practices” by publicly promoting diversity goals, only to later soften or remove language tied to minority hiring efforts after legal scrutiny intensified.
The NFL has not publicly responded to the subpoena. However, Commissioner Roger Goodell previously addressed criticism of the Rooney Rule during league meetings earlier this year, making clear the policy was not going away.
“The Rooney Rule has been around a long time,” he said. “We’ve evolved it, changed it. We’ll continue to do that.”
