Earlier today, we shared with you all the news of Ligue 1 teams OGC Nice and Stade Rennais FC in France coming together to pay tribute to the 85 victims of the horrible attack that happened in Nice on Bastille Day. Both teams will honor the victims with special jerseys, and the gesture is being universally lauded. Meanwhile on this side of the pond, the Dallas Cowboys planned to pay tribute to victims of a local tragedy of their own by wearing a decal that honored the five police officers who were killed by a sniper.
It seemed like a simple but effective way to show support for those victims, right? Well, if you’ve followed the NFL and their strict uniform rules, then you probably aren’t surprised to hear that the league has put the kibosh on this and won’t let the Cowboys wear the decal for games — not even in preseason.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones was tasked with explaining the league’s position on the matter to the media:
According to Jones, the league’s decision has to do with its desire for uniformity among its 32 teams, and that allowing a team to wear a decal for a social cause could open “Pandora’s box.”
“There are so many wonderful, wonderful causes, the league has to be careful,” Jones told the Dallas Morning News. “If you allow one, then what do you do about every team that has a great reason to have something on their helmets?”
While it’s understandable that the NFL values uniformity at a level that’s unheard of when it comes to the other sports, in my opinion it’s still a shame that they won’t let this small tribute go through. There are some causes that you could conceivably say “No” to and still look good PR-wise, but this isn’t one of them. There’s also an argument that the NFL would probably let the Cowboys wear the decal if they could stand to make money off of it, but that’s another conversation for another day.
It’s not a huge shock that the NFL won’t let the Cowboys go through with this tribute, but it’s still a bummer.
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