It takes a small amount of verbal gymnastics to declare Taylor Swift the most important figure in the NFL last season because she never was actually in the NFL. She was in the audience at games, and she was in the celebration moshpit of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory, but no one ever assigned her a specific function beyond cheering for her favorite team. (And her favorite player, of course.)
Swift’s embrace of the league, though, attracted millions of new fans to the sport.
No player in 2023, no matter how firmly rooted in his masculinity, did that.
But even as he saw the impact of a powerful woman from up close, Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker not so long afterward chose to discuss the “diabolical lies” told to young women about career achievement and asserted, “Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”
Butker’s commencement speech last weekend to the graduating class at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, is filled with misinformation, disinformation, transphobia, homophobia, smidges of racism and antisemitism and even some overt swipes at modern Roman Catholic orthodoxy, but it’s difficult not to focus on the blatant sexism in which the nearly 3,700-word monologue marinates.
His public expression of outdated attitudes regarding the enforcement of traditional gender roles – which have been obsolete for decades longer than Butker has been alive -- would seem to have been misplaced at the graduation ceremony for an institution whose student body includes more women than men. And some female grads – who paid as much as $160,000 for their four-year degrees -- expressed how disconcerting it was to hear such invective presented on a day designed for celebration.
NFL needs more of a response to Harrison Butker's speech
However, it’s also a problem for the NFL, which has spent considerable energy and resources – even before Swift arrived in a No. 87 KC jersey – to both draw more women to following the sport and encourage more women to work in the business.
Women have significant influence at the very top of NFL franchises, notably Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk. Although the league became a pioneer in this area when Amy Trask, now a CBS Sports analyst, was promoted to chief executive of the Raiders in 1997, the impact of women in areas of sports traditionally restricted to men has dramatically increased of late. The number of women working as NFL coaches or in football operations has more than doubled inside this decade, from 92 in the 2020 season to 223 in 2023.
“It’s not just about bringing women in. When you consider everyone, everyone does better because you get better people in your office,” Sam Rapaport, the league’s senior director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion told the Associated Press last November.
Because of Butker, though, the league’s DEI office became occupied this week concocting a response to his screed. It came from senior vice president Jonathan Beane and, at just 35 words, probably was not enough to balance out all of the various offenses booted out there by the guy who gave an entirely new meaning to the term “idiot kicker”.
Beane told "People": “Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity. His views are not those of the NFL as an organization.The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”
Beane might have been specific in defending the league’s outreach to the various groups Butker offended, including:
– The LBGTQ community. Butker derided them by referring to “the deadly sin sort of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it.” The NFL has publicly supported the notion that “Football is for everyone” and encouraged donations to The Trevor Project.
– The transgender community, specifically. Butker singled out those who are trying to find peace within their bodies, and those trying to assist them, as “pushing dangerous gender ideologies.” The league released a promotional video for the Trevor Project in which it employed the theme “Football Is”. One of the things the NFL declared the sport to be -- along with “beautiful”, “exciting”, “tough” and “American” – was “transgender”.
– Minorities. Butker referred to the “the tyranny of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” as if somehow making the world an equitable place for all is on the same plane with the denial of basic freedom of speech, assembly and, indeed, religion. The NFL certainly has room to grow in this arena, with only six Black head coaches among the 32 teams and a discrimination lawsuit pending filed by former NFL.com writer Jim Trotter against the league and its media arm. But last season there were 14 Black quarterbacks in opening-game lineups – including Patrick Mahomes, the superstar who was primarily responsible for Butker’s three Super Bowl rings. That’s significant progress given that 40 percent of the teams did not have a Black starting QB until this century.
– The Jewish community. Butker stated, “Congress just passed a bill where stating something as basic as the biblical teaching of who killed Jesus could land you in jail.” Congress did no such thing. Multiple current NFL team owners, including the Falcons’ Arthur Blank, the Raiders’ Mark Davis and the Bucs’ Malcolm Glazer, are Jewish. It’s hard to imagine them being thrilled by one of their league’s employees “misinterpreting” both the Bible and the actions of the House of Representatives.
– Women. Butker’s assertions about the proper roles of women in society are certain to be found offensive by a significant portion of the NFL’s fan base, almost certainly including the Chiefs’ most celebrated supporter.
Swift’s genius for songwriting, performing and business led to her “Eras Tour” grossing more money in a single year than any music act, ever, and turning that concert into a motion picture added nearly a quarter-billion dollars to that total. And that popularity drew millions of viewers, many of them young women, to view games she attended last autumn.
Swift is part of an NFL fan base that research shows to be 46 percent female. The league’s ability to continue demanding and receiving increasing broadcast revenues from various networks and streaming services is largely reliant on that portion of the population. Some of them no doubt agree with Butker’s backward beliefs. But enough to risk alienating the group as a whole?
Indeed, the NFL has spoken. Responding to one player’s malevolence can be exhausting in a league that employs the likes of Aaron Rodgers and Rashee Rice. But it’s a public-facing business. It depends on the continuing approval of a broad community of consumers.
There is so much more for the NFL to say here. Metaphorically, Butker has earned a good, swift kick.