Stop Supporting Racist NFL !
A substantive structural change is desperately needed at the NFL league. The current profound lack of diversity in the league is outrageous. 70% of NFL players are black, out of the 32 NFL teams’ owners, not one is black, and among the head coaches, Mike Tomlin is the only black head coach in the league. He coaches the Pittsburgh Steelers. Also, the offensive coordinators, a position that is a springboard to becoming a head coach in the league, only four are black.
Sundays and Mondays, NFL teams’ white owners watch games from their luxurious boxes, sipping expensive wine and top-notch vodka. While on the field, black players risk their lives in this dangerous game. They endure painful hits to their bodies and heads. We all know what happens to these players when they retire.
Progress in this league has indeed been painfully slow. It looks like the activists’ reservoir of ideas to force the needed structural change at this NFL league has dried up.
With the recent ordeal involving Coach Flores and the New York Giant, this NFL league reached a new low of racism. I concur with Coach Flores equating the NFL organization with a “plantation.”
The so-called Rooney Rule is a joke. The NFL tried to appease some voices demanding more diversity in the league and implemented this rule back in 2003. This is what this rule does, NFL teams just need to interview minorities for head coach positions. And that is precisely what the NFL teams’ owners do. They just check that box that a minority individual has been interviewed. Blacks candidates who applied for head coach positions do not have to be given full consideration.
Rooney Rule was grotesquely displayed recently with Coach Bryant Flores, who, after losing his job with the Miami Dolphins, landed an interview for a head coach position with the New York Giants. Coach Flores was excited about the opportunity and looked forward to interviewing with the Giants. Sadly, he inadvertently learned via a text message that the position he was getting ready to be interviewed for had been filled. He knew this information way before his interview took place. New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had monumentally mistaken Bryan Flores for Bryan Daboll. He wanted to congratulate Daboll and texted Flores instead. Bryan Flores still showed up for the interview, knowing that it was just a formality and that he never had a chance.
Understandably, Coach Flores has filed a lawsuit against the NFL league and made serious accusations against the owners. He called them racist and stated that he sees no difference between “plantation” owners and the filthy wealthy white NFL teams owners.
As disgusting as the ordeal with the New Year Giants was, it was not the first time Coach Flores had experienced such discriminatory behavior from NFL teams’ people toward him. In 2019, Mr. Flores interviewed with Denver Broncos, and it was the same thing. Denver just wanted to comply with the Rooney Rule. Interviewers showed up late, John Always being one of them, and it was apparent they were not interested in Coach Flores. Another white man was hired as head coach to lead the Broncos.
Some people question the timing of this lawsuit and argue that Coach Flores is just a disgruntled former coach with limited talent. They further claim that Coach Flores figured it was better to play the “victim card.” Since his prospects for coaching another team, given his talent, were very limited. These critics praised John Elway for his vigorous response to Flores’ accusations. One thing is clear for these people: Coach Flores will never coach again.
What is the best way to move forward?
We need to go from the Rooney rule to the Biden rule, for starters. Yes, The NFL needs to pledge just like President Biden has done, pledging to appoint a black woman to the highest court in the land. NFL folks will have to call a press conference and pledge that the next five head coaches will be “black” coaches. Let’s people call it affirmative action’s coaches or whatever they want. We need more black coaches. That critical mass has to start building.
Cosmetic change shouldn’t be acceptable anymore. These NFL teams need structural change. Policies need to be formulated with real teeth for enforcement. After teams interview candidates, an in-depth independent analysis must ensure all candidates were given the same consideration and opportunities.
Of course, we will hear accusations that sports are all about talent, and hiring people based on their skin color will destroy the game. “Talent” should drive decisions, not people’s background, critics argue. These people do not tell you that affirmative action is already in place in this league. It has been reported that 1/3 of all white coaches in the league are related. It is hard to believe that the current Rams head coach would be a coach without assistance from his family that had a history with successful San Francisco 49ers of the 1980s and 1990s.
Finally, I always have this thing against professional sports teams. They practice the worst type of capitalism, and sports are always a profound distraction for many people who need to be more civically engaged.
Emperors in the Roman Empire methodically thought of an effective way to keep the masses happy. So they wouldn’t ask questions. “Bread and Circuses” were it; they gave the poor cheap food and entertained them. Those gladiator games and chariot races were exciting, and the poor flocked to arenas and, of course, to the Colosseum. It worked then, and it works today.
Here in L.A.is crazy, we have two soccer teams, two football teams, a baseball team, a hockey team, and we have concerts every other day. It is insane. Who cares about the demise of communities and civic life if the Rams win the Super Bowl. People following games leave no time for engaging in decaying communities in Los Angels.
Furthermore, I have always been mystified about why we build stadiums with public money. NFL teams owners are billionaires; no city should sacrifice the community interest for these billionaires. These NFL folks can also be sneaky and manipulative. It was widely known in the league that the NFL had the “colossal L.A. media market vacant” so teams around the country could threaten cities where they were located to leave if they wouldn’t build new stadiums. That evil strategy worked; many stadiums were built as a result.
It has been proved that stadiums don’t create the needed good-paying jobs that politicians tell us. These state-of-the-art arenas and stadiums, after they are built, create low-paid seasonal jobs. Ticket sellers, vendors, janitorial staff, and others are not jobs where individuals can support families.
I am sure I will find better things to do than watching this game at this majestic “plantation” place known as Sofi stadium.
Thank you for reading.
Chamba Sanchez
A lecturer of Politics at L.A. Community Colleges
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Photo Credit: Stockphoto used
Resources consulted.
Fenno, Nathan and Sam Farmer. “How Stan Kroenke and the NFL turned SoFi Stadium into a $5-billion reality.” Los Angeles Times 4 Sept. 2020.
McCollough, Brady J. “Seven things you need to know about Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL.” Los Angeles Times 1st Feb. 2022.
Paulas, Rick. “Sports Stadiums Are a Bad Deal for Cities.” The Atlantic 21 Nov. 2018.