The NFL still hasn’t said a word about a law that passed last week in Indiana. Last year, when a similar law nearly passed in Arizona, the league said plenty publicly — and reportedly was privately considering moving Super Bowl XLIX, with Tampa Bay being the first option.
The league has remained silent regarding the Indiana law even as hundreds rallied Saturday against the law that prohibits the placement of a “substantial burden” on the ability of a person, an institution, a business, or an association’s ability to follow his or her religious beliefs. The provision has been interpreted as permitting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Indiana Governor Mike Pence says a bill clarifying the new law is now in the works.
“I just can’t account for the hostility that’s been directed at our state,” Pence said, via the Associated Press. “I’ve been taken aback by the mischaracterizations from outside the state of Indiana about what is in this bill.”
However it plays out, the NFL’s silence in 2015 makes little sense, given the noise it made in 2014 when Arizona was poised to do the same thing.
Meanwhile, the Colts have said nothing, either. Which seems a little odd, given the fairly high profile owner Jim Irsay has assumed on Twitter. Though he recently has been tweeting about roster moves and the league meetings, Irsay hasn’t said a word via Twitter for the last six days.
If the league had said nothing a year ago regarding Arizona, saying nothing now wouldn’t be so glaring. But if the league were indeed planning in 2014 to pull the plug on a Super Bowl due to be played in a matter of months, complete silence in 2015 makes no sense.