Sunday Newsletter: Brian Flores and the NFL’s Racism Controversy
Every week in our Sunday Newsletter, Noa editor Lisa Kennedy writes an explainer column to provide background information on a developing news story.
You might be one of the tens of millions of viewers tuning into the Super Bowl today. It’s the 56th competition of its kind, wherein American football gains global attention.
But this year, the sport’s championship match is being overshadowed by claims of racism from one of its coaches.
The Background…
The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the NFL (or National Football League, an American football league comprising 32 teams).
If you’ve been following American football at all recently, chances are you know the name Brian Flores. The son of immigrant parents from Honduras (a country in Central America), he’s coached in the NFL since 2008, beginning his career with the New England Patriots (a team based in the Boston area).
The Story…
Flores was fired from his position as coach of the Miami Dolphins in January 2022, despite having two years left on his contract, and having led the Dolphins through consecutive winning seasons.
A few weeks later, Flores filed a class action-lawsuit against the NFL, as well as some of its clubs, including the New York Giants. The accusations are primarily of racial discrimination. Flores claims that texts he’d received from Bill Belichick, the coach of the New England Patriots, revealed that the New York Giants had decided to hire Brian Daboll as coach before even interviewing Flores. According to Flores, this indicates that his interview was set up as a “sham” so that the Giants could meet league diversity quotas in their hiring process.
Flores’ 58-page suit includes allegations of other sham interviews, as well as a claim that during his time with the Dolphins, the team’s owner attempted to bribe him to deliberately lose games.
The lawsuit seeks damages, as well as the introduction of greater transparency over hiring, retention, firing and salary.
Claims of discrimination are infamously difficult to prove, and Flores’ future in American football is unclear. But Flores told National Public Radio that if there’s any chance his suit can facilitate “significant change,” it will be worth it.
Our Coverage…
If you want to learn about how to guard against workplace discrimination, the article Do Your Diversity Initiatives Promote Assimilation Over Inclusion? from Harvard Business Review covers the topic.
That article is from a weekly newsletter curated by Maureen Hock, Senior Editor at HBR, on topical themes and issues. Each week, we’ll release a Series comprising a selection of these articles by 8p.m. GMT each Friday (3p.m. EST) time. To continue to stay informed on all things business, leadership and career strategy, why not build this into your weekly (Noa) routine.
