Jay-Z Joins Forces With the NFL for Entertainment & Social Justice Partnership
Jay-Z wins again, The NFL hired him to "lead the league’s endeavors in music and entertainment.”
According to officials, HOVA and Roc Nationwill advise the NFL on the selection of the Super Bowl musical acts.
Jay-Z will also be influential in providing strategy to land big artists for production and promotion of NFL events.
The agreement also makes Roc Nation a co-producer of the Super Bowl halftime show, and although it does not specify that Jay-Z will perform ... it wouldn't be out of the question for him to hit the stage.
“He was very quick to say that he does not want this to be about him performing, that it was broader than that,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told the Washington Post.
Goodell added, “It quickly went beyond that. Do I hope he’ll perform in the Super Bowl sometime in the next several years? Yes. But I think we’ll all know if that time comes. He’ll know in particular.”
Jay-Z believes the NFL will give him and Roc Nation the freedom to decide the entertainment production strategy for the league.
“I think we have autonomy,” he said on the deal. “I anticipate that there will be a lot of — with any big organization, in this building right here we have internal problems. Anything that’s new is going to go through its growing pains."
He added, "We put what we want to do on the table. The NFL agreed to it. So we’re gonna proceed with that as if we have a partnership."
In terms of the activism portion of the agreement, Jay-Z's duties will be tied to the league’s current “Inspire Change” program announced in January. That initiative, which works with the Players Coalition, focuses on education and economic advancement, police and community relations and criminal justice reform.
Both sports and social justice are areas of expertise for Jay-Z, who has jumped into the sports world with his Roc Nation Sports agency, as well as being a part owner of the Brooklyn Nets.
He also oversaw the development of Roc Nation's social justice department, which has been heavily influential in the case of Meek Mill's ongoing criminal case.
This won’t be the first time Jay-Z has branched out into the sports world. He is already part owner of the Nets, and he helped facilitate the team’s move to Brooklyn from New Jersey.
