Following a warning letter sent to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in March, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has issued an investigative subpoena to the league as his office ramps up a probe into whether the Rooney Rule and DEI policies are crossing the line with Florida’s civil rights laws.

“Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who in March threatened potential civil action against the NFL over the Rooney Rule, said Wednesday that he has issued an investigative subpoena to the league,” noted ESPN’s Adam Schefter on X.

After a March warning, Uthmeier pointed out that the NFL had removed references to “inclusive hiring” from its website, but he said the updated language could still violate Florida’s deceptive trade practices laws. Under the terms of the subpoena, league officials will have to appear at the attorney general’s office in Tallahassee on June 12. The NFL, however, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The attorney general argues that the decade-old Rooney Rule’s race-based and gender-driven interview process is an act of discrimination that goes against Florida’s employment law. The league actively started using the Rooney Rule from the 2003 season.

The NFL’s Rooney Rule isn’t the only thing under fire, as the league is also questioned over the Diversity Accelerator Program, Resolution JC-2A, and Offensive Assistant Mandate—policies that reward teams with extra draft picks when minority executives and coaches are hired or promoted.

In the wake of the legal threat, the NFL has already made changes to the public language of the Rooney Rule. Likewise, Goodell has kept a strong stance regarding the issue, saying it doesn’t break the law, nor will it be abandoned.

“One thing that doesn’t change is our values, and we believe that diversity has been a benefit to the National Football League,” Goodell said at the NFL Annual League Meeting in March. “We are well aware of the laws and that laws are changing or evolving. We think the Rooney Rule is consistent with those, and we certainly will engage with the Florida AG, or anybody else, as we have in the past, to talk about our policies and what they are.”

As this legal battle continues, the current probe will have a direct impact on the Florida-based franchises: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Miami Dolphins, and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Florida’s NFL teams could feel the heat of this legal clash

The legal dispute between Florida and the NFL has put them in a challenging position, and they could face several issues moving forward. The first one could be a legal trap. As the NFL wants all 32 teams to follow the Rooney Rule, the state could impose fines on the three franchises, while the NFL could also snatch their draft picks.

Moreover, the Florida franchises could be walking on eggshells amid the legal obstacles. It means the hiring process could get complicated. The teams could no longer move quickly in hiring coaches or managers, as the team’s emails, texts, and hiring details could be exposed under the subpoena.

To exactly quote the NFL’s own Executive Vice President, “the Rooney Rule and other policy adjustments are necessary until the NFL sees organizations doing the right thing for the right reasons in hiring individuals. In the end, year after year, the NFL has bemoaned the hiring of ‘white’ coaches rather than ‘coaches of color.’ This obsession with hiring based on race is wrong. It also violates Florida law.”

This has also sent warning shots to billionaire owners like Shahid Khan (Jaguars), Stephen Ross (Dolphins), and the Glazer family (Buccaneers), dragging them into this dubious situation when they are focusing on winning games this season.

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