NFL, ROC NATION TEAM UP (UPDATE)

UPDATE: TMZ is now reporting that Jay-Z will soon become part owner of an NFL team. They add that their sources claim "it is going to happen in the near future." Ever the businessman, Hova was named hip-hop's first billionaire by Forbes earlier this year. Is the new partnership just a chess move to ownership?

The NFL is partnering with Jay-Z and Roc Nation for entertainment and social-justice initiatives for the upcoming 2019-2020 season. The deal makes Hova's Roc Nation agency a co-producer for the Super Bowl Halftime show.

As the "NFL's live music entertainment strategist," Jay-Z and Roc Nation will act as a consultant for all of the NFL's entertainment endeavors, while contributing to the league's activism campaign, Inspire Change.

According to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, the deal does not contain a provision requiring Jay-Z to be the Super Bowl Halftime performer. "He was very quick to say that he does not want this to be about him performing, that it was broader than that,” Goodell commented to the Washington Post. “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.”

"I think we have autonomy," Jay-Z stated in the WaPo story. "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. 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."

Jay-Z and Goodell (above) formally announced the deal Wednesday morning at Roc Nation's New York HQ.