Written by Jessica Wilhoit
September is the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, (September 15th to October 15th) and NFL regular season games (September 9th). A connection that has more than just timing in common.
The NFL has been working to celebrate their Latino players and fan base. In September 2025, the NFL created the Hispanic Football Hall of Fame. The new Hall of Fame was created to celebrate the contributions of Hispanic players of the past and stand as a promise to invest in future players from the Hispanic community. Anthony Muñoz and Ron Rivera are Founding Board Members, both of whom are NFL legends.
Super Bowl LX in 2026 continued to celebrate the Hispanic community with the Half Time show performance headlined by Bad Bunny. The 13 minute show was almost entirely performed in Spanish (all but Lady Gaga’s portion of the show). A Half Time show that won seven Emmy awards earlier this month. Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance is now the most Emmy-awarded Super Bowl Half Time show in history. A win for Bad Bunny and a win for the NFL with the Hispanic community.
Also, this year, Fernando Mendoza, a player for the Las Vegas Raders, was the NFL’s first draft pick. Fernando is a Cuban-American whose grandparents all immigrated from Cuba. He is currently learning from starting Quarter Back, Kirk Cousins, but is a future Quarter Back for the team if training continues to go well.
The NFL is making strides to celebrate the Hispanic Community and is working to grow their viewership. The number of Latino NFL players is growing with a current number of Latino players at 55 with 38 on playing team rosters. NFL teams have 53 players and there are 32 teams so there is a total of 1,696 players. Including only active team rosters, that makes Latinos 2.2% of the NFL. There are more than 60 million Latinos in the United States making people of Hispanic Heritage the largest minority in the United States at 18.9% of the population. Latino viewership has increased by 11% in recent years, but there is still opportunity for growth.
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