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Roger Goodell dodges questions about Donald Trump, immigration ban

Ben Rohrbach
Senior NBA writer

As NFL commissioner Roger Goodell tried to put the deflate-gate saga behind him, a new controversy stared him in the face, and he handled it with all the deft of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

Two of the dozens of questions Goodell faced over a 45-minute span at his annual state of the league address focused on President Donald Trump and his recent ban of immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations, and the most powerful man in American sports had nothing to offer on the subject.

[Ditch the paper and pen – play Squares Pick’em for the Big Game!]

Roger Goodell's lips are sealed. (AP)
Roger Goodell’s lips are sealed. (AP)

First came a question from New York Times writer Ken Belson about Trump’s executive order, which bars visitors from predominantly Muslim nations Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, with exceptions made for persecuted people of minority religions. Goodell’s response was calculated:

Besides offering, “As commissioner of the NFL, I’m singularly focused on the Super Bowl right now” — which did not prevent him from discussing the league’s global expansion and lofty revenue goals — Goodell suggested Sunday’s game between the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots “will bring the world together,” as if that’s any solace to refugees in fear for their lives seeking U.S. asylum.

Next came a question about a New York Times report that all references to Trump and all but one to Goodell were omitted from the league’s transcripts of 54 interviews conducted at the Super Bowl Opening Night festivities on Monday, despite a number of questions about both controversial leaders.

Goodell dodged that one, too.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told The New York Times, “There’s no editing of these quotes by the person who is transcribing nor by the league office,” and the transcripts provided to reporters at the event were not meant to be complete versions of the interviews, but merely highlights, as if Martellus Bennett saying he “most likely” would not visit the White House if the Patriots won the Super Bowl “because I don’t support the person in it” was not a highlight of the otherwise mundane evening.

To be fair, Atlanta Falcons wideout Mohammed Sanu, the only Muslim playing in Super Bowl LI, also sidestepped a question about Trump’s immigration policy, and his response was included in the transcript, “It’s a very tough situation. I just pray the country and the world can be united. It’s really hard for me to talk about this right now. I just want to focus on the game and talk about football.”

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The NFL commissioner and the league’s players are not required to offer their political stance, even if the travel ban is the biggest topic on the planet right now. But the Super Bowl will again be the world’s most watched event again this year, and that offers a unique opportunity for a league that bills itself as a global enterprise to wield some influence, one way or another, on a worldwide issue.

The NFL’s silence comes in stark contrast to the NBA, which immediately reached out to the State Department concerning Trump’s executive order and saw multiple coaches, players and executives speak out eloquently in opposition to a policy that could influence some of their colleagues.

For the record, Goodell hasn’t called his state of the league address the greatest in history … yet.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!