Bruce Arians Says Fans Are The Biggest Obstacle For Gay Players

Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians said during an interview with FoxSports.com on Wednesday that he believes the biggest problem for a gay NFL player would be the fans. Arians believes players and coaches would be more accepting of an openly gay teammate.

"I don't think the locker room would have any problem with it," Arians said in a telephone interview with the website. "The problem would be with the fans. I think especially opposing fans. Some of the things that are said are over the top and out of control that I can imagine what some fans would say to an openly gay player."

League spokesman Greg Aiello said he would plan to monitor fan behavior toward openly gay players during an interview with USA Today Sports in April.

"Our league and team security people would be ready to monitor any kind of public reaction that might not be appropriate, including scrubbing social media," Aiello said. "We would assist the player in dealing with any adverse public reaction of any type, if there is any. Hopefully there wouldn't be and it would be a non-issue, which it should be."

Sexual orientation will be addressed for the first time during the NFL Rookie Symposium, NFL chief human resources officer Robert Gulliver told ESPNNewYork.com on Tuesday. Former players, whom the league are referring to as ambassadors, will talk to rookies about potentially having a gay teammate and how to publicly address these issues.

In the wake of Jason Collins' coming out announcement to Sports Illustrated in April, multiple leagues are preparing athletes to avoid harassment of gay teammates and opponents. "I would not be surprised if there are more players coming out," Gulliver said.