NFL Removing ‘End Racism’ Message From Super Bowl End Zones

The NFL is making a messaging shift during Super Bowl LIX between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

The league is removing the “End Racism” message from the back of one of the end zones inside New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome for the Sunday, February 9 showdown, according to The Athletic. “Choose Love” and “It Takes All Of Us” will be painted instead. 

It marks the first time since February 2021 that “End Racism” will not be written in a Super Bowl end zone. 

The change was reportedly “conveyed internally to high-level employees earlier this week.”

NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said the change was a reflection of recent events, including January’s terror attack in New Orleans’ French quarter and the plane crash over Washington D.C..

“We felt it was an appropriate statement for what the country has collectively endured, given recent tragedies, and can serve as an inspiration,” McCarthy told The Athletic.

The decision to remove “End Racism” from the end zone comes as President Donald Trump has announced his intentions to attend the game, becoming the first sitting U.S. President in history to attend the Super Bowl. 

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell supported the league’s diversity initiatives this week in the wake of Trump, 78, issuing an executive order in January directing federal agencies to terminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

“We got into diversity efforts because we felt it was the right thing for the National Football League and we’re going to continue those efforts,” Goodell, 65, said on Monday, February 3. “We’re going to continue those efforts because we’ve not only convinced ourselves, I think we’ve proven ourselves that it does make the NFL better.”

Goodell added, “We’re not in this because it’s a trend to get in or a trend to get out of it.”

The NFL launched its “Inspire Change” social justice initiative in 2018, which “aimed at reducing barriers to opportunity, particularly in communities of color, and showcasing how the NFL family is working together to create positive change.”

Two years later, after the murder of George Floyd and around the peak of the Black Lives Matter movement, “End Racism,” “It Takes All of Us,” “Stop Hate,” “Choose Love” and “Vote” slogans began appearing in NFL end zones. 

According to The Athletic, an internal memo at the time said the messages were meant to demonstrate “how football and the NFL brings people together to work as one and use our example and our actions to help conquer racism.”

The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles meet Sunday, February 9 in Super Bowl LIX at 6:30 pm ET on Fox.