People tend to think of sports as a meritocracy. Teams and players compete, and the best claim victory and all the rewards winning provides. In such a world, there is no room for racism. If the goal is to win, rejecting people who can help you on the basis of race is foolish. Additionally, a racist organisation would learn that refusing to hire the best talent results in consistent losing and misery. The meritocracy story leads some to conclude racism can’t exist in sports. But in reality, sports are not a meritocracy, and racism can most definitely persist. Consider the story of hiring talent in American Football. With more than $15 billion in annual revenues, the National Football League is the biggest professional team sports league in the world, with more than twice the revenues of the English Premier League. Although the NFL does not have the global fanbase enjoyed by the EPL, within the United States it clearly dominates the sports landscape. Given the nature of the NFL, one might think teams would do everything they can to hire the very best decision-makers. The hiring pattern we see, however, suggests a different story. Let’s start with the players. About 70% of NFL players are people of colour. But these players are not equally represented at every position. The quarterback is the primary leader on the offensive side of the ball. Historically black players did not play this position. By 1991, fewer than ten black quarterbacks had participated in as many as 100 plays (about three games) in a single season in the entire history of the NFL. By the end of the 20th century, it looked like things were changing. In the 2000 season, eleven different black quarterbacks reached the 100-play milestone. Nearly 25% of quarterbacks getting significant playing time were black. After 2000, though, progress essentially stopped. Since then, there have been other years where eleven black quarterbacks participated in 100 plays in single season, but the record has never been broken. It remains the case that, in general, at least 75% of the quarterbacks playing in the NFL are white. There is no evidence that white quarterbacks are better than black quarterbacks. Nevertheless, it appears that when it comes to the leader of the offence on the field, NFL team owners prefer white men. We see a similar pattern when it comes to the people leading the quarterback and the other members of the offence from the sideline. The NFL has 32 teams, and therefore 32 offensive coordinators (i.e. the coach in charge of the offence). There are another 32 coaches specifically assigned to coach the team’s quarterbacks. In essence, these two positions are the leaders of the quarterback. Once again, the coordinators and coaches are generally white men. In the history of the NFL, we have never had more than three black quarterback coaches in a single season. We have also never had a season with more than six black offensive coordinators. It is not that teams do not hire black coaches. But these coaches are more often hired to coach running backs and defensive backs, positions that tend to be played by black players. There is also no sign that the NFL is changing how it is hiring its quarterback coaches and offensive coordinators. 6 |
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