The media did not hold back on holding NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell accountable for the league’s lack of diversity — not even the league’s pre-Super Bowl LVI press conference on Feb. 10 in Los Angeles.
“In the league’s initial statement, it says diversity, equity and inclusion were core principles in the NFL,” Jim Trotter, of NFL Media Group, said in his lead-in to Goodell. “I need to provide some context before I can ask about that statement. In the 100-plus year history of this league, 24 of the 32 franchises have either had one Black head coach or no Black head coaches.”
Trotter, a Howard graduate, then reached for his phone to read off more facts.
“We’ve got the Bills, the Commanders, the Cowboys, the Falcons, the Giants, the Jaguars, the Panthers, the Patriots, the Rams, the Ravens, the Saints, the Seahawks, the Titans who have never had a Black head coach,” Trotter said, as he put his phone back in his pocket. “That’s nearly half the league. We look at the fact there’s never been a Black majority owner. There’s only been one Black club president. We look at the GMs, now we’re up to seven, five of those were hired in the last 12 months.
“We’re now at three Black head coaches, two of them were hired after Brian Flores filed his lawsuit. It’s easy to focus on the owners, but I want to put this to you here. When we look at the league office, of the top 11 executives there, there are only two people of color. When we look at NFL Media Group, where I work, there’s not one Black person at the senior level in the newsroom who makes decisions about a league whose player population is 70% Black.
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