Ice Cube reminds Twitter he landed $100M NFL pledge to support Black businesses

Forming the Contract with Black America, Ice Cube has promoted economic equality, and the NFL partnership is a major step forward in realizing this agenda.

Entertainer Ice Cube during the 2020 election established the Contract with Black America (CWBA), a policy platform that he hoped would gain support among any and all politicians. The primary aim of this effort was to drive more money to Black-owned businesses, empower Black communities, and promote greater economic equality.

Over the summer, Ice Cube landed a major partner to sign on to this agenda — the NFL. As part of the deal, the league agreed to commit over $100 million to businesses and organizations aligned with the CWBA. In its press release, the NFL stated:

"The collaboration focuses on identifying League-wide opportunities in the financial, tech, and production sectors, with a concentration on increasing direct and indirect spend to national Black businesses to help close America’s racial and economic wealth gap."

Ice Cube reminds Twitter of the NFL’s $100 million pledge to support Black-owned businesses

This partnership with the NFL is a victory for the CWBA. Ice Cube has sought partnerships with other major sports leagues, including the MLS, MLB, and NBA. But the NFL, so far, is the only major league to sign on to the CWBA. The league argued that it signed on to this contract for several reasons.

"Driven by a strong internal commitment to diversify the NFL’s business partnerships with organizations like CWBA, the League has spent and allocated $125 Million with Black owned and operated businesses such as Ariel Investments, CityFirst/Broadway Bank, Cover Communications, and Fearless Technology during the last year."

Though this significant announcement over the summer received some media attention, Ice Cube may have been facing criticism that he dropped or neglected the CWBA since the last election, because on Friday, he took to Twitter to remind fans of this partnership.

Ice Cube has faced criticism in the past because he met with former President Donald Trump to discuss the CWBA in 2020. He has subsequently called the meeting a “political thing.” Ice Cube has stated he’s met with both Democratic and Republican politicians, stating in a recent interview that he has yet to hear directly from the Biden administration about his proposal.

It’s unclear exactly who this tweet was meant to target, but based on this major partnership with the NFL, Ice Cube has certainly not forgotten about the CWBA and the future of Black business partnerships in the NFL.