Promised a New Culture, Women Say the N.F.L. Instead Pushed Them Aside
The New York Times
In the years after the Ray Rice scandal, the N.F.L. redoubled efforts to hire and promote women. But over 30 former staff members say the league’s culture remains demoralizing.
At a Super Bowl halftime show rehearsal in 2020, a top male N.F.L. executive argued with a woman who said that he then pushed her. After investigating, the league removed the man from his longtime role overseeing the show and ordered him to take an anger management course. But he remains a senior executive.
Exactly what happened between the woman, who was involved in the production of the show, and the man, Mark Quenzel, the N.F.L.’s senior vice president and head of content, remains in dispute, and the league insists he did not push her.
Yet the incident was one of many raised by more than 30 women who spoke to The New York Times about their experiences working for the N.F.L. as recently as 2021. They described a stifling, deeply ingrained corporate culture that demoralized some female employees, drove some to quit in frustration and left many feeling brushed aside.
