The NFL has long been the most conservative of America’s biggest sports leagues, not just in its cautious approach to major policy issues, but right down to the way its executives dress at the office. Now, however, even the old-school NFL is bending to the long-running trend of less formal attire.
Earlier this month, the NFL allowed business causal dress for the first time at league headquarters at 345 Park Ave., in New York City, joining the NHL, MLB and NBA in loosening its real and proverbial neckties.
“We continue to evolve policies to better reflect workplace practices,” said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, reading off the internal memo announcing the news to the hundreds of employees. He also noted he was tieless as he spoke.
Staffers in the NFL’s media office in Los Angeles, and at NFL Films in Mount Laurel, N.J., have been business casual for years.
“In essence if you [are] meeting with partners or people from outside it is anticipated you would wear business attire,” McCarthy added. The memo includes guidelines for what constitutes business casual, McCarthy said, though he declined to provide specifics.
Roger Goodell has occasionally been at public events without a tie, a look that will become more common for executives at the league’s Park Avenue headquarters.getty images
Business formal attire as a requirement for office wear has been receding for decades, especially as millennials come of age. Even JPMorgan Chase, perhaps the epitome of white shoe banking, allowed business causal three years ago. To attract young business talent, companies must often accommodate that demographic’s different approach to how to dress for the office.
MLB moved to business casual over 15 years ago, a spokesman said, while an NBA representative said its policy came into effect in 1997. An NHL spokeswoman confirmed the hockey league has a business casual policy but did not know when the organization allowed relaxed fashion. MLS also allows for business casual attire.
The NFL, however, has long been different. Team officials, when griping about a new policy handed down from the league, often mockingly refer to “the suits on Park Avenue.” They’ll need a new phrase.
Joe Browne, who rose from the mailroom in the 1960s to being head of communications for the NFL, ending a half century there in 2016, described how formal the league used to be.
“My first boss was Pete Rozelle,” he said, referring to the legendary commissioner. “He always wore a jacket and tie in [the] league office. One day the air conditioning wasn’t working so I begged him to take off his jacket. The funny thing was he didn’t know where to hang it because he had never removed it before. My second commissioner was Paul Tagliabue. His idea of a casual-attire policy was to wear only a blazer and tie when he worked in the office on a Saturday during the offseason instead of wearing his normal dark suit and tie.”
So NFL insiders took great notice of the fact that Commissioner Roger Goodell for the last three years went tieless during his annual press conference at the Super Bowl.
Even Browne, who seemingly slept in a suit during his days in the NFL, recognizes the different eras.
“This is the 21st century; mores change,” he said.
Indeed, Browne, who now has his own public relations agency, said he has not worn a tie for business meetings since leaving the NFL.
