The US football league NFL will do without a slogan against racism at the Super Bowl in New Orleans on the field. The NFL only delivers vague justifications-and it feeds the suspicion that the campaign has something to do with the announced visit by US President Donald Trump at the football spectacle.
As several US media, including “CNN” and “Associated Press” report, the “End Racism” (“stops racism”) on the field for the first time since 2020 at the Super Bowl. As NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed, the words “Choose Love” (“Decide for Love”) will be seen in the end zone. On the other side of the field in the superdome in New Orleans, the sentence “It Takes All of Us” (“It needs us all”) should be.
“‘Choose Love’ is appropriate in view of what our country has gone through in the past few weeks with fires in Southern California, the terrorist attack here in New Orleans, the aircraft and helicopter crash near our capital and the plane crash in Philadelphia”said NFL spokesman McCarthy.
In New Orleans, an assassin had driven into a crowd on New Year’s Eve with a pick-up, and 14 people were killed. This was also referring to the league-delimit McCarthy: “The Super Bowl is often a snapshot of the present and the NFL in the unique position to capture and inspire the imagination of the country.”
NFL emphasizes: Trump has nothing to do with Trump
The lettering of the end zone with socio-political slogans is an integral part of the NFL marketing machine. However, it is different this year that US President Donald Trump has announced that it will come to the Super Bowl in the stadium. This immediately moved the NFL leadership into suspicion of the possible preceding obedience to the US President, who has repeatedly noticed racist statements in the past. The news agency “AP” confronted the NFL with a corresponding request: Unlike in previous years, the decision has nothing to do with visiting the President, it was said by the league.
According to a report by “The Athletic”, the decision to adapt the end zone slogans should have recently been made. The portal referred to two NFL managers who did not want to be mentioned by name due to the “sensitivity of the topic”, as it was said in the “Athletic” report.
Trump in the stands at the Super Bowl – also a political symbol
In the NFL, some club owners supported Trump’s presidential campaign during the 2024 election campaign. After Trump’s election victory, combined with a strengthening of rights, libertarian forces in the United States, many US companies had also announced that they would hire their programs for more diversity and cultural change. Trump would be the first US President to sit in the stands during his term at the Super Bowl. This would also be a symbol that the new zeitgeist should also find its way into US sports.
The prehistory certainly also includes the protest of NFL star Colin Kaepernick, who had established a symbol against racism in 2016 with his often copied knee during the US anthem. For that, he had been criticized hard by Trump.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell commented only vaguely on questions about the announced visit to the president after the arrival. The efforts of the NFL for more diversity, for example when filling top posts in coaching or management, are not endangered by the Trump administration.
There have been messages in the end zone since 2020
The NFL had started to place slogans in the end zones in 2020. It was a reaction to the protests against police violence and the riots in the United States after the death of George Floyd, who was unarmed in the violence of a police officer. This season, the NFL teams had the choice of “Choose Love”, “End Racism”, “It Takes All of Us”, “Vote” (“Select”) and “Stop Hate” (“Stop Hass”).
In the final for the title of the NFC between the Eagles and the Washington Commanders in Philadelphia stood “It Takes All of Us” and “End Racism” in the end zones. At the AFC final between the Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills in Kansas City, the audience saw “It Takes All of Us” and “Choose Love”.
NFL professional Mailata: “Donald Trump is not in the field”
At the media dates on Tuesday, the visit to Trump was not a big issue. Neither the two quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs) and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) nor the coaches Andy Reid (Chiefs) and Nick Sirianni (Eagles) were asked a question of visiting the president. When Eagles professional Jordan Mailata was addressed to Trump, he replied: “You have to hide everything. Donald is not in the field. How does it help me to win the game when I think about Donald Trump, buddy?”