
NFL Facing Discrimination Investigation In New York & California
The NFL may be about to face two of its toughest opponents. Accusations of racial discrimination and sexual harassment against one of the richest and most powerful sports leagues in the world came out on Thursday. The charges do not involve the 32 franchises, just the league.

Coming out of the pandemic in 2021, the NFL generated a record $111 billion and the final numbers from the 2022 season are expected to be better. Commissioner Rodger Goodell has guided the owners to skyrocketing franchise values, highlighted by Daniel Snyder, as he is about to walk away with a cool $6 billion for his Washington Commanders. Now, the league run by Goodell may end up in a courtroom battle facing disturbing charges.
According to Karen Matthews and Adam Beam of apnews.com, New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Attorney General Rob Bonta are investigating the NFL’s workplace environment. On Thursday both state attorneys issued subpoenas to executives at NFL. The report said that investigators are searching for documents related to a myriad of accusations that allegedly occurred at the NFL offices in each state.
The apnews.com report said that Bonta referred to a “robust public record” that pointed to a “disturbing and concerning set of allegations about gender and racial discrimination in the NFL.” Bonta was referring to lawsuits filed by former employees; as well as the congressional hearings last year that investigated Daniel Snyders office of workplace violations with the Washington Commanders; and lastly, an article in the New York Times detailing the stories of 30 former female NFL employees with allegations of gender discrimination. Though disturbing there are no new allegations against the league. In addition, each of the listed accusations have been or are currently under investigation.
This should be an interesting case, thought it may not see a courtroom in New York or California. The public launching of an investigation under these circumstances, against one of the most powerful media machines in the world, seems like political grandstanding. By no means are the NFL executive offices above racial or gender discrimination. That's not the point. No new accusations have been brought to light. Sighting a "robust public record" against the NFL as their reason for an investigation, sounds more like a good opportunity for a lot of free face time. There may be a tremendous amount of merit to all of these accusations and in time those answers will be revealed with or without New York and California.