NFL restarts social justice messaging while battling domestic abuse, drunk driving and prostitution arrests

The NFL will again during the 2026 season stencil its end zones and adorn helmets with "Stop Hate" or "End Racism" as part of its social justice messaging even as the league is inundated in arrests, court dates and personal conduct policy investigations having to do with criminal justice.

The league wants to advance the message that every person deserves equal economic, political, and social rights, regardless of their background.

And that's good.

But it is not making any similar messaging push for stopping men getting physical with women, people driving under the influence or stopping human trafficking – even after one of its owners, Jed York of the San Francisco 49ers , got arrested by a human trafficking task force in Ohio in a prostitution sting.

49ERS OWNER JED YORK ARRESTED FOR 'ENGAGING IN PROSTITUTION' IN OHIO, PLEADS NO CONTEST TO LESSER CHARGES So the league is making social justice a priority while criminal justice needs addressing within its ranks.

The return of the social justice push for 2026 was first reported by Front Office Sports.

A league spokesman told OutKick that clubs will again have the opportunity to select their preferred end zone stencil messaging.

The available options for 2026 for the clubs are the same as last year – "Choose Love," "Inspire Change," "End Racism" and "Stop Hate." Clubs can also use "Never Forget" on Week 1, which is in memoriam of the Sept.

11, 2001 terrorist attacks .

Players can also again select from the four messages for their helmet decals throughout the season.

Here's a thought: Any club not picking "Never Forget" on Week 1 is failing, regardless of what they pick the remainder of the season.

Despite the NFL's social justice messaging on its fields and player helmets the rest of this year and every year since 2020, the FBI recorded a 51% increase in bias-motivated incidents from 2020 to 2024.

The Anti-Defamation League recorded 2,024 antisemitic incidents in 2020, but by 2024 that number had risen to 9,354 — a more than fourfold increase.

In 2020, the FBI reported 7,759 hate crimes.