The NFL's Fumblerooski At The Second Circuit
Roger Goodell wants to be judge, jury, and arbitrator.
Is an arbitration where one side sets the rules and serves as the arbitrator actually an arbitration at all? What if that side is also the only employer in town and can blacklist anyone who refuses to accept its terms?
The National Football League says yes. But so far, courts are saying no.
Race and football
Professional football is an incredibly dangerous profession. And while the overwhelming majority of the players in the NFL are Black (roughly 70 percent), they’re drastically underrepresented in the two positions that dominate the public face of an NFL franchise: the head coach and the starting quarterback.
Statistical evidence proves that NFL teams systematically underrate Black quarterbacks. They’re drafted later, they’re more likely to get benched, and they’re less likely to be perceived as intelligent than their white counterparts.
As the Washington Post put it:
A white quarterback prospect is more likely to be discussed in terms of intangible internal qualities for which he himself is responsible. He is smart, displays intelligence, and understands the game. He is a leader with command of the huddle. He is consistent, calm, and poised. He is credited for his production. He is good or even outstanding. He appears to fit the prototype. In contrast, a minority quarterback prospect is more likely to be discussed in terms of physical characteristics, to be judged erratic and unpredictable, and to have his successes and failures ascribed to outside forces. We learn about his hands, his weight, his frame, his body.
And when it comes to Black head coaches, the record is even worse. In fact, there have only been 24 in all of NFL history.
White lies
In 1996, the hapless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coming off of 14 consecutive losing seasons, hired Tony Dungy to be their head coach. Dungy, who is black, immediately led the Bucs to four playoff appearances in five years, becoming their winningest coach. But in 2001, Tampa Bay fired Dungy anyway.
Dungy was snapped up by the Indianapolis Colts, where he racked up an astonishing 85-27 record, leading the Colts to seven straight playoff appearances and a Super Bowl win in 2006.
