The Cincinnati Bengals will make Juneteenth a paid holiday, a team source told The Enquirer.
All Bengals employees are off on Friday, June 19.
Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865 Union soldiers arrived at Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War had ended and that the enslaved were now free.
The NFL announced last week it will close its office on Friday to observe Juneteenth.