TIL the NFL has no written rule against female players; women would in fact be allowed if they met the league's eligibility requirements.

it's a hypercompetitive professional environment where inhuman amounts of money are on the line for the team who wins. From a strict business perspective, you're not going to do anything that might put you at even the slightest disadvantage over the other team if you can help it.

It's not even that. There are plenty of organizations with lots of money at stake that make personnel decisions, at least in part, on the basis of things other than aptitude.

What it really comes down to is that physical performance is obvious. You can't fake it. You can't blame others for keeping you down when you're 20% slower than the competition. Even casual spectators are capable of assessing how well someone measures up.

Putting someone who can't measure up in the game would be obvious to everyone. It would be a high-profile debacle broadcast on live television to millions of people. The people who did it would and the people who pushed for it would be laughingstocks (or worse if someone got hurt). It would backfire and everyone knows it.

/r/todayilearned Thread Parent Link - espn.com