NFL's 'Rooney Rule' For Women: Roger Goodell Announces Move To Get Women Interviews To Be Executives

RTR4NNP6 — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks to the media before Super Bowl XLIX in Phoenix, Jan. 30, 2015. Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced Thursday that the league would take steps to give women a fair shot at being hired for executive positions. Goodell said the NFL would institute a rule for women similar to the "Rooney Rule," which requires teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching jobs, according to multiple reports.

The comments from Goodell were made Thursday at the NFL's women's summit in San Francisco ahead of Super Bowl Sunday. The exact details of the planned NFL rule were not immediately released. The event was scheduled to feature such notable speakers as former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Women's Sports Foundation founder and former tennis star Billie Jean King, and current tennis star Serena Williams.

Goodell said league will institute a Rooney rule for women in executive positions. A women will have to be interviewed for all those jobs.
— Jane McManus (@janesports) February 4, 2016

Glad NFL will have Rooney Rule for women & exec positions. Hat tip to those like Al Davis who didn't need a rule to put @AmyTrask in charge.
— Judy Battista (@judybattista) February 4, 2016

The Rooney Rule, established in 2003, has been lauded by the NFL, but its effectiveness has been subject to debate. The number of nonwhite coaches in the league has grown since its implementation from two to six last season, according to ESPN. But new research cited in that same ESPN article by Mina Kimes found that lower-ranking white coaches were twice as likely to be promoted to coordinator positions as their black counterparts regardless of performance, experience or coaching background.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell opens women's summit by talking about taking his twin daughters to play soccer. pic.twitter.com/iygTrSLTmL
— Jane McManus (@janesports) February 4, 2016

A number of notable advances were made by women in the NFL this year. The league hired its first female official in Sarah Thomas, and Kathryn Smith became the first full-time female coach in the league when she was hired by the Buffalo Bills. Before that the Arizona Cardinals hired Jen Welter as a coaching intern, the first time a women has held a coaching role in the league. ESPN reported that there are "a number of women" vice presidents in the league.

King said at the summit that seeing women in the NFL will inspire women who want to enter the football world. "That's huge to have these breakthroughs, because if you can see it, you can be it," King said, according to ESPN reporter Jane McManus on Twitter.

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