The NFL’s Racist Hiring Tarnishes the League’s Global Image

The NFL is most successful professional sports league in the world. They make more money than any other league, significantly more¹. When normalized by the length of season, the NFL absolutely annihilates its competition.

The NFL, and football in general, is uniquely American. Even though sports like basketball and baseball originated in the USA, they are very popular overseas to watch and play. The ranks of foreign born players in MLB and the NBA illustrates their international popularity². The NFL, on the other hand, is comprised of roughly 97% natively born American players.

Export Diversity

For those wishing to promote diversity, the NFL’s lack of foreign players is a huge problem (compare this to the English Premier League). Ethnic/racial diversity is the bedrock of globalist ideology³. All modern multinational brands rely heavily on diversity to draw attention away from their ownership. This is especially true for media heavy industries like sports.

As the most successful league in the world, it is not surprising that the NFL receives mountains of criticisms. Of course, the players are entirely male. Until very recently, all of the coaches and refs were also male. Over 90% of the billionaire owners are white⁴.

It’s Never Enough

To the ideology of woke globalists, the NFL is a thorn in their side. Not only are the players virtually all American, the owners, coaches, and management severely lack in diversity. It is true that 70% of the players are black⁵. However, most Americans have come to expect outsized minority representation in sports⁶.

Everybody knows that coaches and quarterbacks are the most important roles in the sport. So long as they are dominated by white males, the progressive left will not stop pushing. Even if it means fundamentally changing the rules of the game, “progress” must continue.

Rule Changes for Diversity

Recent rule changes sparked a revolution in how the game is played at its most important position, the quarterback. Under the guise of player safety, the NFL reengineered the quarterback position to favor mobile quarterbacks.

To many, this change makes the game more exciting. But much more important than the play on the field, the rule changes finally shatter the dominance of white quarterbacks⁷. The recent success of Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson would be impossible under the old rules⁸.

Leadership

With the quarterback position “solved”, attention has quickly moved towards coaches. A bombshell lawsuit filed by Brian Flores is the latest controversy to hit the league⁹. In it, he claims that he was fired because he is black. He also claims that racism is endemic in the NFL.

But does diversity matter? After all, the league is more successful now than in any other era. Legally it matters, but don’t expect this lawsuit to ever go to trial. The media machine of the NFL will work quickly to sweep this under the rug. They already have the Rooney Rule, which forces teams to interview minority candidates¹⁰.

I will happily put money on the NFL further expanding minority hiring requirements. They may even impose hiring quotas. Or maybe the league will fine teams with too many white coaches. Whatever they do to save face, I am certain the NFL will continue to push diversity, regardless of the costs.

Does the Case Have Merit?

Regardless of how the NFL resolves the latest lawsuit, the real question is whether the league is racists or not. For most on the political Left, the results are proof enough that the league has racists hiring practices. Of course, that is absurd. Just looking at bulk ratios of white vs. black coaches means nothing. If it did have meaning, then the only sensible conclusion would be that the league is racist against whites for hiring too many black players.

Another myth that can be easily dispelled is the myth that there is a pool of untapped, qualified minority candidates just waiting to be hired. This is patently absurd. Since the Rooney Rule has not increased the overall ratio of black coaches, it is clear that this myth is nonsense. If a pool of minority candidates actually existed, then more minorities would have been hired long ago. Whatever your take on the issues, it is safe to conclude that the Rooney Rule is a failure.

As for whether the league is racist, I pose a simple question. The owners in the NFL represent the whose-who of American billionaires. Many of them also own wildly successful businesses, like Home Depot, Ford, and Microsoft¹¹. The businesses owned by these billionaires are all leaders in diversity. Their teams are clearly diverse. As high profile owners, why would they accept racist hiring policies? I’ll leave the answer to this rhetorical question to you.

Something Must be Done

What if your goal was to improve the image of the NFL with more diverse hiring? How would you go about doing it? We can rule out ridiculous measures like hiring quotas. They don’t work in any industry, so why would anybody think they would work in such a high profile position like the head coach of an NFL team¹²?

The first thing I would do is encourage more minority coaches at college level. Let the competition of hundreds of coaching positions in college separate the wheat from the chaff. And if the college ranks aren’t producing enough qualified candidates, then the NFL clearly has the funds to incentivize universities to hire more minority candidates.

Another sensible option would be to offer training for minority candidates. After all, the head coaching position is an extremely demanding and highly skilled job. Not just anybody can perform the task, especially if they lack executive training.

It is doubtful that the NFL would ever adopt sensible policies. Instead they will use force and quotas, just like you’d expect from a government agency. And just like government policies are bound to fail, these will surely fail to produce desired results. But who knows, maybe failure is their concealed objective.

Conclusion

The NFL is the world’s most successful sports league. Black athletes are massively over represented when compared to the general population. And the league has produced more black millionaires than any institution on the planet. But regardless of these ‘accomplishments’, the NFL is under pressure to further push the woke, globalist agenda.

As the ultimate icon of the American Empire, there is no chance that this pressure will go away. The league will continue to push American culture and ideals around the globe, especially diversity. Coaches and front office staff are not immune from this pressure. I fully expect in the next decade for there to be enormous demographic changes.

First will be the inclusion of more minority coaches. Next will be more female hires. And then the ultimate prize of numerous openly gay players and coaches. As long as the league’s revenue is based on mass media, nothing will stop the leftist, woke, globalist agenda from infecting every aspect of the league’s policies, especially hiring policies.