After reading that headline, some cynics would say, “Wow. How in the world will the NFL ever be able to afford that?”
Well, look, at least it’s another sign that the NFL is taking the deeply serious issues related to George Floyd’s death and the aftermath: Kneeling (or not) during the national anthem, respecting the flag (or not), and Roger Goodell’s seemingly genuine (or not) admission that the league was wrong for “not listening to NFL players earlier” and him finally (or not) going against President Trump’s wishes.
Goodell’s remarks sounded like he was talking about Colin “Black Lives Matter” Kaepernick, even though Goodell never mentioned Kaepernick by name.
NFL.com columnist Judy Battista breaks it down here:
“The NFL, which first began a social justice program after players protested police brutality and racial injustice several years ago, announced Thursday it will commit a quarter of a billion dollars over 10 years to a fund to combat systemic racism and support the battle against injustices faced by African Americans.
For a league that was roiled when Colin Kaepernick first took a knee in protest nearly four years ago — and which has seen players be the target of attacks from elected officials, including the president, who sought to conflate the protests with disrespect for the flag and military — the contributions are a significant step toward backing players, and immerse the league in an issue that has galvanized Americans in protest for nearly three weeks since the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
One person familiar with the league’s program even said the league would be willing to work with Kaepernick on social justice initiatives.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today without the work Colin and other players have led off,” the person said. “That is a key point here. We listened to our players. We needed to listen more, we needed to move faster. We heard them and launched a social justice platform because of what Colin was protesting about. The players have always been an essential piece of this effort and this campaign. It would be awesome to engage Colin on some of the work we are doing. He’s doing real impactful work. Getting him in some way would be amazing for us. There’s a lot of work to do to get to that point. We’re certainly open and willing to do that.”
Even before last week’s videos and today’s announcement, the league had donated $44 million to its social justice programs. That money had funded 20 national social justice grant partners and made matching contributions to 350 local grassroots organizations identified by players and former players. Now, that fund will balloon to $250 million in all, with the league working with players to identify and work with programs that address criminal justice reform, police reform and economic and educational advancement for African Americans.
The person familiar with the league’s decision said conversations had taken place over the last week, with Goodell and owners wanting to make it clear that the league’s commitment to social justice work was for the long term. The expanded commitment to the league’s existing initiatives, said the person familiar with the program, should make clear that the NFL does not have an end date in sight for how long it will work on social justice causes.
“There was just a real desire to put another stake in the ground and say, we’re not done here yet,” the person said. “There is so much more work to do and this is not a short term problem we can fix in the next couple of years.”
As has been the mantra for almost everyone these days, regarding almost everything these days and what we can expect in the coming months: “We’ll see, we’ll see.”