"We admit we were wrong," said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday.
Wrong for "not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest". Goodell said what so many felt should have been said back in 2017 when a group of black employees pushed for answers from the commissioner, executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent and fellow senior leadership members surrounding Colin Kaepernick's inability to find a job.
"We, the National Football League, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people," said Goodell in a video posted to social media. "I personally protest with you and want to be part of the much-needed change in this country. Without black players, there would be no National Football League."
It marked a sign of Goodell and the league shifting their stance by responding to the admirable effort of its players in using their platforms to lead calls for reform following the unlawful killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
"The fact he said Black Lives Matter and that the NFL couldn't exist without black players, that is such a departure," NFL Network's Steve Wyche told Sky Sports News' Richard Graves.
"To see the number of young people and people of all races taking to the street and demanding things of their politicians.
"The fact that you have these NFL players conjure up a video telling the NFL 'we want you to say black lives matter, we want you to say black players are important' and then for Roger Goodell to come out and do it, you talk about a 180 from the top person in the NFL and a 180 from the players.
"When Colin Kaepernick took a knee, it was mainly Eric Reid and a handful of other players out of 1800, you could probably count the amount of people who made an action in the two dozen and now to see this many people come out it is a vast change, it is different."
The NFL had initially addressed the death of Floyd with a statement sending its condolences to those impacted that was widely-criticised for its vagueness and failure to mention racism.
Unhappy with the reaction, NFL employee Bryndon Minter, a social media creative producer, put his job on the line by contacting New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas on Wednesday, June 3 with an idea to construct a video of players delivering a message to Goodell and the league.
By the end of Thursday, following a slightly improved NFL statement that still failed to condemn racism, a video consisting of Thomas, Saquon Barkley, Odell Beckham Jr. and many more had gone viral.
The 20 voices united to say: "We will not be silenced. We assert our right to peacefully protest. So on behalf of the National Football League, this is what we the players would like to hear you state: We, the National Football League, condemn racism and the systemic oppression of black people. We, the National Football League, admit wrong in silencing our players from peacefully protesting. We, the National Football League, believe black lives matter."
It was on Friday morning that Goodell decided to react. He called for a virtual meeting, moderated by Wyche and colleague MJ Acosta, that would enable his employees to openly voice their concerns.
"He made some initial statements and told us he was going to come out with a video to that of the players saying to the NFL 'we want to hear you say Black Lives Matter'," recalled Wyche.
"In terms of the in-house conversation, it was mainly young people, people who expressed their frustration with the commissioner like 'why is it taking the NFL this long? We're almost two weeks in since George Floyd's murder to acknowledge its employees'.
"There was no leadership, whether it was from the NFL, NFL Network leadership. There was nobody kind of saying 'here are some thoughts' or 'hey, we're coming up with something, just know we're thinking about you', there was just radio silence.
"Some of the young people asked him unbelievably strong questions, they were fair but questions that you or I at 25 might not have had the stones to ask the head of the company. Roger accepted those questions and answered them and it was an incredible discussion."
A video of Goodell's statement was posted on Twitter just after half past six on Friday evening.
The commissioner's views have since been questioned by President Donald Trump, who tweeted: "Could it be even remotely possible that in Roger Goodell's rather interesting statement of peace and reconciliation, he was intimating that it would now be O.K. for the players to KNEEL, or not to stand, for the National Anthem, thereby disrespecting our Country & our Flag?"
Goodell's comments may well have also divided team owners, with the Dallas Cowboys' Jerry Jones one of those in favour of the league requiring players to stand for the national anthem.
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"It's one of the few times in the NFL's history since I've been covering it that he (Goodell) is winning the public relations battle in the affinity of the public," Wyche continued.
"He's not going to get ousted over something like this because that's a worse look, 'we're going to fire you because you supported your workforce, you supported your on-field workforce that is 70 per cent black', it's not a good look.
"So I think he was willing to do this because look, when you watch the video of George Floyd dying under that man's knee, some people saw white and black but most of us saw right and wrong.
"If you want to be on the side of history that could support wrongdoing that typically does not work out so I think, if we're calling it a gamble, Roger Goodell would rather gamble on the side of right than the side of injustice."
After Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were killed by police on back-to-back days in summer 2016, one of the responses from NFL employees was to form the Black Engagement Network, designed to support racial diversity. Progress from then on proved slow.
With not only America but the focus of other countries around the world now firmly on racial oppression, Wyche senses a more progressive response could be in the offing.
"We had worked with NFL leaders for years to get more people of colour hired in management positions and it has been a slow burn," he said.
"A lot of that was already in place and then this right here was jumping off point, kind of a tip of the iceberg. They say changes are going to come, we'll see.
"But this is the first time, I've been with the NFL Network since 2008, that I've felt that there seems to be genuine sincerity behind the pledges. I grew up in a state called Missouri which is called the 'show me' state and I'm a big believer right now that it feels different."
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