Editor's note: Richard Lapchick is a human rights activist, pioneer for racial equality, expert on sports issues, scholar and author.
The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida (UCF) released the 2022 NFL Racial and Gender Report Card on Thursday. It comes during another year in which the NFL has faced intense scrutiny over its record on diversity, equity and inclusion. The spotlight grew laser focused after former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores sued the NFL and three teams alleging racial discrimination. In a lawsuit filed Feb. 1, Flores says two teams held "sham" in-person interviews to comply with the Rooney Rule diversity hiring policy.
While the NFL initially said Flores' claims were "without merit," commissioner Roger Goodell soon said the league's efforts to promote diversity among head coaches have been "unacceptable."
Most of the public and media's attention is on head coaches and, to a lesser degree, general managers. They are the faces of the franchise. As of Thursday, there were six head coaches of color and a seventh who is an interim head coach. Eight is the all-time high. The NFL continues to have the worst record for head coaches of color among the three major men's leagues. It got a C in 2022.
At the start of the 2022 season, there were eight people of color holding general manager positions, representing 25% of all general managers. That was up from five in 2021 and two in 2020, and represented was an increase of 9.4 percentage points from 2021, earning the NFL a B- for 2022.
Owners are also clearly in the public eye. There are two people of color who have significant ownership interests and are involved in the operations of an NFL club. Shad Khan, a Pakistani-born American businessman and the principal owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined NFL ownership in 2012. Kim Pegula, an Asian American woman, holds a major interest in the Buffalo Bills. She joined NFL ownership in 2014. There are seven women in the NFL as principal owners.
The NFL report card takes a broader look at all the professional positions in the league office and on the 32 teams. The broad look showed an overall increase in the grades with a large increase in gender hiring and a small decrease in racial hiring. Part of the decline in race is related to the adjustment of grading scale to reflect the 2020 census which shows the 42.5% of the population is made up of people of color.
The NFL received a B-plus for racial hiring practices and a B for gender hiring practices in the 2022 NFL report card. The NFL earned a combined grade of a B.
In comparison, the NBA received an A-plus for racial hiring practices and a B-plus for gender hiring practices building an overall A. Major League Baseball received a B on the issue of racial hiring and a C for gender hiring practices, bringing the overall grade to a C-plus in 2022.
The NFL's score for race decreased to 85%, 3.5 percentage points lower than last year's score of 88.5%. The score for gender increased significantly to 81.4%, 6.4 percentage points higher than last year's score of 75%. The NFL's overall grade increased from 81.8% in 2021 to 83.2% in 2022.
TIDES used data from the 2022 season provided by the NFL. It conducted an analysis of the racial and gender breakdown of head coaches, assistant coaches, general managers, executive leadership, senior management, senior administration and professional staff within the NFL office and at the club level.
The NFL has continued to make progress in the hiring practices within the league office. In contrast, there is significant room for improvement in the disparities in the racial and gender hiring practices between the league office and 32 teams. For example, 29% of the vice presidents and above are people of color in the league office, up from 26.5% in 2021. At the team level, 15.9% of the vice presidents are people of color. While that is an increase from 13.7% in 2021, it is barely half of the record of the league office.
Perhaps the biggest area of improvement was team presidents, long a domain of white men. This year there are three women and six people of color as club presidents. Even with the improvement, the grades were an F and a C, respectively.
The NFL's league office has a dynamic team led by Dasha Smith, who along with Jonathan Beane, Sam Rapport, Belynda Gardner and Josephine Martinez work to create innovative methods in building a more inclusive environment. Their combined focus on improving diversity is reflected in this report card where the NFL has improved in all but a few categories. The overall percentage of women in the league office was at an all-time high of 41.3% in 2022, an increase of 2.5 percentage points from 38.8% in 2021. This is a significant improvement from 29.6% just six years prior, in 2014. The percentage of people of color in the league office increased from 31.1% in 2021 to 33.7% in 2022.
"In the face of growing racial challenges in our nation, it is more critical than ever to even the playing field with fairness, equity and opportunity," Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and leader of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, told me after examining the report. "The NFL has provided many strides with their visible support on the field, in the end zones, on player helmets with some of the initiatives through the Inspire Change platform. However, these measures have not translated to more significant progress within team hiring practices, especially among head coaches and general managers."
Jackson said the Rainbow PUSH Sports platform, under the leadership of John Mitchell and Joseph Bryant, seeks to engage teams and help support diversity in their overall partnerships and procurement practices. But he emphasized the need for consistency at the top by teams, with owners embracing the Rooney Rule not merely as a box to check but a principle to apply.
"The league also has an immediate opportunity to improve diversity within ownership, with the potential sale of the Washington Commanders team," Jackson said. "A minority owner or ownership group in the nation's capital would be extremely significant. Whatever happens next, we must move consistently, intentionally and strategically to ensure that our nation's most popular sport truly reflects the face of its consumers and our communities. It is our hope that progress can be made and my friend Dr. Lapchick's next report can reflect greater strides forward as we seek to have the NFL look more like America."
This year the NFL reached multiple "all-time highs" including: eight people of color as general managers, 27 people of color and five women as game officials, and six women of color in coaching positions. At the beginning of the 2022 season, the NFL had 15 women in coaching roles, which is the most ever in any professional men's league covered in the Racial and Gender Report Card series. Black people held 14.7% of team professional staff roles in 2022, the highest in NFL report card history. People of color held 20.4% of team senior administration positions in 2022, the highest in NFL report card history. Women held 28.4% of team senior administration positions in 2022, an increase from 25.3% in 2021.
In March, the Rooney Rule became applicable to people of color and women as both groups are considered diverse under the rule. In May, the quarterback coach position was also made subject to the Rooney Rule and requires that club's interview at least one external minority and/or woman for vacant quarterback coach positions.
Beginning in the 2021 report card series, TIDES started to award bonus points affecting the overall racial and gender grades based on crucial social justice initiatives and hiring milestones. The NFL announced the creation of the NFL Diversity Advisory Committee, following its pledge in February to retain outside experts to review the league's diversity policies and practices. The six-member committee will lend its expertise, external perspective on industry best practices and will evaluate league and club diversity, equity and including (DEI) strategies and initiatives. This includes all hiring processes, policies and procedures, with a primary focus on senior-level coach and front office personnel positions. After completing this evaluation, the committee will provide comprehensive recommendations to the league office and club ownership for consideration.
The NFL had many social justice initiatives and hiring milestones that qualified for bonus points. Those initiatives and milestones included NFL Inspire Change, where more than $160 million was contributed to local communities and social justice initiatives with assistance from the NFL owners, players, working groups, NFL Foundation, and the financial commitment to the Players Coalition. The NFL is intensely focused on increasing opportunities for the identification, growth, development and advancement of people of color and women across all facets of the league and teams. These efforts extend to both football and non-football personnel with emphasis on pipeline development, talent identification and recruitment, structure and strategy with accountability, education, diverse community engagement and inclusive culture.
In March, the NFL announced the creation of the NFL diversity advisory committee, following its pledge in February to retain outside experts to review the league's diversity policies and practices. The six-member committee will lend its expertise, external perspective on industry best practices and will evaluate league and club diversity, equity and including (DEI) strategies and initiatives. This includes all hiring processes, policies and procedures, with a primary focus on senior-level coach and front office personnel positions. After completing this evaluation, the committee will provide comprehensive recommendations to the league office and club ownership for consideration.
In addition, the NFL hosted Historically Black College or Universities (HBCU) NFL Experienceship, a program that connects collegiate candidates interested in a career in sports and entertainment with opportunities to develop and learn about the business through practical learning and shadowing experiences. The initiative has since expanded and now includes the opportunity to gain experience in other NFL departments. This five-month program included over 22 HBCU programs and more than 100 participants. The NFL also had some hiring milestones that included two major team positions that were filled by women since last year's report card. The Cleveland Browns hired Catherine Raiche as the first woman in an assistant general manager role. Additionally, the Denver Broncos hired Kelly Kleine as executive director of football operations.
"The NFL's commitment to improvement, while incremental, is a result of an intentional effort from the league office to focus on DEI and is leading to improved performance in the report card assessment," Jeff O'Brien, CEO of the Institute for Sport and Social Justice, shared with me. "Further, the league's focus on retaining and growing a diversified workforce will foster a sense of belonging throughout the organization. The individual NFL teams, with their own practices and priorities, have work to do to bring their operations in the line with the league office."
Having worked with the NFL's DE&I team and observing Goodell's public positions on the need for improvement in racial hiring practices, I look forward to seeing league wide improvements in the offseason and into the future. I believe the range of diversity initiatives included in the 2022 NFL Racial and Gender Report Card show they are going in the right direction toward inclusivity.
Richard E. Lapchick is the director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida. He is the author of 17 books and the annual Racial and Gender Report Card and is president of the Institute for Sport and Social Justice. He has been a regular commentator for ESPN.com on issues of diversity in sport. Follow him on Twitter @richardlapchick and on Facebook.