The NFL is making a change to the playing field for Super Bowl 2025.
This year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans will not include the words “End Racism” in the back of either end zone, according to multiple reports.
An NFL spokesperson told the Associated Press Tuesday that the league will instead use the phrase “Choose Love” in one of the end zones.
The league said the phrase is appropriate for the moment, especially considering the recent tragedies that have occurred in the United States, including the deadly New Year’s terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
“The Super Bowl is often a snapshot in time and the NFL is in a unique position to capture and lift the imagination of the country,” league spokesman Brian McCarthy said. ”‘Choose Love’ is appropriate to use as our country has endured in recent weeks wildfires in Southern California, the terrorist attack here in New Orleans, the plane and helicopter crash near our nation’s capital and the plane crash in Philadelphia.”
In the other end zone, “It Takes All of Us” will be written, according to the AP.
According to The Athletic, this will be the first time since 2021 that the Super Bowl will not include the “End Racism” in the end zone.
“End Racism,” one of the phrases teams started using in end zones in 2020 as part of the league NFL’s “Inspire Change” initiative, was notably stenciled into the back of one of the end zones during the NFC Championship game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
“It Takes All of Us” and “Choose Love” were written in the end zones for the AFC title game in Kansas City.
President Donald Trump has plans to attend the Super Bowl, The Post reported this week, with the trip coming shortly after his first-day executive order that directed federal agencies to dismantle the “illegal and immoral discrimination programs” led by former president Joe Biden’s administration, an order that ended eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the federal workforce.
He also eliminated DEI programs from the military.
The NFL told the AP that Trump’s attendance does not have anything to do with removing “End Racism” from the end zone.
Commissioner Roger Goodell emphasized Monday that the league will continue to value diversity in its league.
“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 because we’ve not only convinced ourselves, I think we’ve proven to ourselves that it does make the NFL better,” Goodell said. “We’re not in this because it’s a trend to get into it or a trend to get out of it. Our efforts are fundamental in trying to attract the best possible talent into the National Football League both on and off the field.”
