After years of shunning player protests and distancing itself from the Black Lives Matter movement, the NFL has kicked off its 2020 season with efforts to acknowledge racial injustice in the United States.
The shift in tone arrived after a summer of widespread unrest amid a race reckoning in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. What started with commissioner Roger Goodell proclaiming “Black lives matter” and “we were wrong” has led to an opening day that’s seen various on-field player protests and official league signage with messages like “end racism.