Roger Goodell announces Rooney Rule for women

Updated
Jen Welter Opens Up About Her Time with Cardinals
Jen Welter Opens Up About Her Time with Cardinals



The National Football League is trying to take some steps to be more inclusive at the highest positions of its fiefdom, for both minorities and women.

On Thursday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced that there will be a Rooney Rule imposed for women who are seeking front office positions. In essence, the league will be required to interview at least one woman for any executive front office job, just as teams are required to at least interview one minority for head coaching vacancies.

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The NFL has been making some progress on these fronts. Currently, the NFL has a litany of successful black head coaches including Mike Tomlin, Jim Caldwell and Marvin Lewis. There have also been some inroads made for women, with the Buffalo Bills recently hiring the first full-time female assistant coach in league history. The Arizona Cardinals broke down that barrier to an extent this preseason, bringing on Jen Welter in an intern program.

The rest of the sports world has been fairly slow to include minorities and women in their ranks. The NBA has Becky Hammon as an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs, but the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball have nothing of the sort.

See photos of Jen Welter

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