NFL will honor Martin Luther King Jr. with ‘Choose Love’ stenciled in end zone

By Canadian Press on January 17, 2026.

NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL will honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. by displaying “Choose Love” in the end zones and on helmet decals for all divisional round playoff games this weekend.

“Choose Love” and “It Takes All of Us” will appear on opposite end zones at the Super Bowl next month. Host teams will select the end zone stencils for the conference championship games.

“Dr. King’s message continues to guide how we show up in meaningful moments across the league,” said Anna Isaacson, SVP of social responsibility for the NFL. “‘Choose Love’ has become an important and widely embraced message for our teams because it reflects the values Dr. King championed — dignity, empathy, and a commitment to our shared humanity. Bringing it forward in the Divisional Round and again at Super Bowl LX reflects that continued relevance.”

“Choose Love” was first introduced in 2022 when the Bills adopted it as a unifying message for their community after a shooting in Buffalo. NFL teams have widely embraced the stencil, and it was featured at the Super Bowl last year following an attack in New Orleans.

The NFL has used on-field social justice messaging for the past six seasons. Teams featured an end zone message of their choice at each home game throughout the season, selecting from four options: “End Racism,” “Stop Hate,” “Choose Love” or “Inspire Change.” “It Takes All of Us” was stenciled in the opposite end zone for all games.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

The Associated Press