The National Football League announced Tuesday that it would allow the stenciling of social justice messages on the field during the 2020 season.
During a conference call with reporters, the league‘s commissioner Roger Goodell said that the messages “End racism” and “It takes all of us” would be stenciled in the end zones of every football stadium across the country in time for this year’s season, per ProFootballTalk.com. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
NFL will write “End racism” and “It takes all of us” in end zones https://t.co/4un7tZ8vKF
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) September 1, 2020
“The NFL stands with the black community, the players, clubs and fans confronting systemic racism,” Goodell explained, per the outlet. “We will not relent in our work.” (RELATED: Broncos Head Coach Vic Fangio Says He Doesn’t ‘See Racism At All In The NFL’)
The decision by the NFL follows similar ones by the NBA and MLB, per Radio.com.
All of the courts at the NBA’s bubble facility in Orlando, Florida, were emblazoned with all-caps Black Lives Matter. Similarly, baseball pitching mounds bore the letters “BLM” in black stenciling beneath the MLB logo for the league’s opening weekend in late July.
The move comes following the death of George Floyd, the man who died while in custody of a Minneapolis police officer earlier this year and prompted months of ongoing protests and riots.