Date: November 3, 2002
Topic: Business/Economic
Author: William Reed
Article ID: article_ema110302a

Football Face-Off: Will Black Americans Continue To Support Discrimination in NFL?

Why should African Americans go out of their way to support millionaire athletes being discriminated against by NFL team owners? In a report titled Black Coaches in the National Football League: Superior Performance, Inferior Opportunities, Johnnie Cochran and class-action lawyer Cyrus Mehri say NFL discrimination against Black coaches is something we all should be concerned about.

The report uses statistical information compiled over the last 15 years to address the league’s hiring and firing of minority coaches. It determined that Black coaches averaged 1.1 more wins per season than white coaches and led their teams to the playoffs 67 percent of the time compared with 39 percent of the time for white coaches. The report shows that since 1986 there’ve been only five Black head coaches -- Art Shell, Dennis Green, Tony Dungy, Ray Rhodes and Herman Edwards. Only Indianapolis’ Dungy ($2.6 million-a-year) and the New York Jets‚ Edwards ($1.8 million-a-year) are currently employed as head coaches.

Cochran says, “Black coaches are being held to a higher standard” and “Now is the time for the NFL to step up and make a change.” To stimulate the hiring of African-Americans head coaches, Cochran proposes NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue “reward at least one team each year for developing a diverse front office”. He’s asking the NFL to require the 32 team owners to include “diverse racial groups” when interviewing candidates for coaching positions.

Cochran says he’s prepared to take legal action, “We can litigate this and bring a lawsuit. I think the NFL is reasonable. They understand that this can end up in the courts, and they’d rather not see that happen. But let’s see if we can have a dialogue. You only litigate after you’ve done everything you can to negotiate.” Cyrus Mehri, who served as counsel in two of history’s largest multi-million-dollar race discrimination cases, Texaco and Coca-Cola, says Black coaches have less chance to retain their job than their white counterparts. He says, “One bad year and you’re out. ” There seems to be a lack of patience as far as Black coaches are concerned.”

Cochran and Mehri want the NFL to adopt a “Fair Competition Resolution” as a remedy. They suggest concerned fans and activists send e-mails, via www.findjustice.com, to Tagliabue expressing, “I am concerned about the low number of African-American head coaches in the NFL and believe the NFL Commissioner and Team Owners must take action to promote fair competition.”

Tagliabue has appointed Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney to head a committee that ensures more Blacks are interviewed and hired for NFL coaching and front office positions. But African-Americans fans and ticket-holders that help NFL owners collect over $8 billion in ticket revenue should make sure Rooney’s committee opts for increased diversity in all of the teams‚ operations. For example, Terry Manufacturing Co. Inc. (TMC), a Roanoke, Alabama-based apparel manufacturer (No. 59 on the Black Enterprise 100 list) has a landmark deal giving it licensing rights to produce National Hockey League-branded apparel. The lucrative NHL license is an integral part of TMC’s $34 million-a-year business and allows the 500-employee company to sell wholesale consumer apparel to major retail chains and local retail stores of NHL teams.

The 32 current coaches in the NFL make a total of $71 million-a-year, but if African-Americans provide active support toward Cochran and Mehri’s discrimination initiative such actions could gain more high-income jobs for Black coaches, as well as a myriad of off-the-field business opportunities with the multi-billion-dollar NFL.

© 2002 William Reed - www.BlackPressInternational.com