Lapchick, who pushes sports leagues to do more to promote equality, said the N.F.L. had wielded a powerful sword before. In 1990, Tagliabue, who had just taken over as commissioner, recommended that the N.F.L. abandon plans to host the Super Bowl in Arizona in 1993 if voters there did not recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a state holiday.

“Why should politicians or pundits force the league to become stuck at the center of prolonged political debate when it can be minimized” by moving the game elsewhere? he said.

When voters in Arizona again rejected a measure to celebrate the holiday, the N.F.L. moved the game to Pasadena, Calif. Two years later, voters reversed course, which paved the way for Phoenix to bid again for the Super Bowl. The game was played in Tempe, Ariz., in 1996.

It is unclear whether Roger Goodell, Tagliabue’s successor, reflected on these events when he chose to stick to the league’s plans in Houston. But the league has been reluctant to take a stand and slow to react to controversies in recent years.

In July 2014, Goodell suspended the former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice for two games after video was made public of him dragging his then-fiancée from an Atlantic City casino elevator. Advocates for victims of domestic violence protested that the punishment was much too light, and a month later, Goodell, to his credit, apologized. But then more graphic video was released that showed Rice punching the woman, and Goodell suspended Rice indefinitely.

In other cases, the league has held its ground. Goodell has long defended the right of Daniel Snyder, the owner of the Washington Redskins, to keep the team’s name even as thousands of schools have dropped logos and monikers that Native American groups consider offensive.