NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s expiration date came and went a long time ago — and his latest comments prove it beyond doubt. His tone-deaf response to the backlash over Super Bowl halftime performer Bad Bunny, coupled with his open embrace of the idea of transgender players in the league, should be the final straw.
Speaking to reporters after the NFL’s annual fall owners meeting, Roger Goodell made it clear there are no plans to replace Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime performer — despite mounting backlash. The anti-ICE Puerto Rican singer stirred outrage after his Saturday Night Live appearance, where he performed in Spanish and sneered at Americans, saying they had “four months to learn the language” if they wanted to understand his Super Bowl show.
“It’s an important stage for us,” Goodell said. “It’s an important element to the entertainment value. It’s carefully thought through.”
“I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism,” he added. “It’s pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching.”
“But I’m confident it’s going to be a great show,” Goodell noted further. “He understands the platform that he’s on, and I think it’s going to be exciting and a united moment.”
Part of me thinks Roger Goodell was legitimately stunned by the question — but the other part remembers exactly who we’re dealing with. This is the same commissioner who proudly turned the NFL into a social-justice platform after George Floyd’s death, plastering end zones with left-wing slogans and pushing divisive politics onto millions of fans who just wanted to watch football.
So no, his weak response about Bad Bunny isn’t surprising. It’s part of a pattern. Goodell has shown zero backbone when it comes to defending basic fairness in sports — especially for girls and women who shouldn’t have to compete against biological males.
The moment came when an OutKick reporter asked Goodell about the league’s push to promote flag football — especially among girls and women — as part of the NFL’s future. Instead of celebrating the sport’s growth or addressing the obvious questions about fairness and safety in women’s athletics, Goodell fell right back into his usual woke double-speak.
“Armando, it’s something we haven’t discussed at this point in time,” Goodell said. “So, I don’t have an answer on that for you. We haven’t even discussed that.”
Is he serious? Not even an answer — on an issue that was 80-20 in the 2024 election, where Americans overwhelmingly agreed that boys have no place competing in girls’ sports? The public isn’t divided on this — they’re appalled by the unfairness, not to mention the danger it poses to female athletes.
And yet, here’s the NFL — the very league built on celebrating strength, speed, and the raw athleticism of men — being led by a commissioner too cowardly to take a stand.
Goodell has spent years turning the NFL from America’s game into a corporate virtue-signaling sideshow. Instead of focusing on football, he’s obsessed with politics, identity, and appeasing the woke mob.
The league doesn’t need a commissioner who panders to activists — it needs one who protects the integrity of the sport. It’s long past time for Goodell to step aside and let real leadership take the field again.