Story highlights Roxanne Jones: For the NFL, silence is golden when it comes to political issues

Fans looking for a Meryl Streep-style speech during Super Bowl won't get one, Jones writes

Roxanne Jones, a founding editor of ESPN Magazine and former vice president at ESPN, has worked as a producer, reporter and editor at the New York Daily News and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Jones is co-author of "Say it Loud: An Illustrated History of the Black Athlete." She talks politics, sports and culture weekly on Philadelphia's 900AM-WURD. The views expressed here are solely hers.

(CNN) A couple of weeks before Super Bowl XLII in 2008, when Barack Obama was running for president, I was on assignment for ESPN in Milan, covering Men's Fashion Week. With me were two professional athletes -- former NFL superstar Terrell Owens and an NBA rookie, Al Horford -- both fashionistas in their own right. I'd chosen the guys to be my fashion correspondents.

Roxanne Jones

Watching Owens and Horford on that trip highlighted, at least for me, the glaring differences between the cultures of the NFL and NBA and how players in those respective sports consider their roles in our society, even today, and their right to speak out on issues of social justice or civil rights.

In Italy, all anyone wanted to know was: "What do you think about Obama?" Terrell and Al were two of less than a handful of black men attending Fashion Week and the European media outlets were eager to talk to them both. But Terrell, one of the NFL's biggest stars back then who was never known to hold his tongue on any issue, wasn't having any of it.

"Nah, I don't do politics. I don't vote. No comment," he would say each time he was asked anything about Obama. Clearly, he was worried that any remotely political comment would hurt his football career. It's worth noting now that Owens, who appeared on "The Celebrity Apprentice" after he retired, somehow found his political voice and endorsed Donald Trump for president

Heading into Super Bowl LI between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons, not much has changed. In 20 years as a sports journalist, I heard this refrain often, mostly from NFL players who'd been coached by agents, coaches and others to keep mum on issues outside of the game. Whether the topic is social justice, domestic violence or gay rights, the NFL has done a very good job of keeping its troops in line. In a league where contracts are not guaranteed , your biggest payday likely comes from sponsors. And nothing scares away NFL endorsement deals quicker than a man with strong opinions.