The old boys’
With the Carolina Panthers on the market, the scandal-hit NFL has th h to find a fresh face. It needs to, writes Jerry Brewer.
THE NFL owner – for so long the most enviable, profitable and invincible position in American professional sports – doesn’t look so hot now. He’s choking on arrogance, ego and greed. This exclusive club of 32 brilliant knuckleheads bombed so badly in 2017 that, in a banished land far away, Colin Kaepernick probably laughs.
What went wrong? What didn’t? First, the owners blackballed Kaepernick because his protest during the national anthem was a distraction. Then, for one week after President Donald Trump said very mean things about the league and its protesting players, they joined the protest for ill-thought reasons. And then they tried to end the protests because somehow they didn’t fully realize they were creating a revenue-draining monster. And then they started fighting among themselves because Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was mad at Commissioner Roger Goodell for suspending Ezekiel Elliott, who had been accused of domestic violence.
And we haven’t even gotten to the part where Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson asked to shave the legs of his female employees.
The NFL has been ridiculed for being the No Fun League. Now, Richardson has made it the Naughty Freaky League.
After a Sports Illustrated investigative report Sunday exposed Richardson’s disturbing history of sexual harassment and racist remarks, he announced that he would sell the team at season’s end. He avoids the indignity of making the NFL remove him in a more forceful manner. He’ll be punished by making ridiculous money off his ridiculous misconduct.
Congratulations, Jerry Richardson. You have helped to redefine the term ‘‘filthy rich.’’
If the NFL is wise, it will use this embarrassment as an opportunity to take a long look at itself. Stare into the mirror just once, and the league will see one priority it must have as it assists Richardson in vetting and seeking potential buyers.
This is a good time to be proactive and serious about improving the diversity among NFL owners. The NFL has only two nonwhite owners, Jacksonville’s Shahid Khan, who was born in Pakistan. There are a few female owners: Kim Pegula (born in South Korea) runs the Buffalo Bills with her husband, Terry; in Tampa, the Glazer family includes Darcie Glazer Kassewitz; Al Davis left control of the Raiders to his widow, Carol, and son, Mark; Virginia Halas McCaskey is the 94-year-old principal owner of the Chicago Bears; Amy Adams Strunk controls the Tennessee Titans; and Martha Firestone Ford, 92, took over the Detroit Lions after her husband died three years ago. But most of those six women are advanced in age or playing smaller roles.
The call for diversifying NFL ownership isn’t just a nice thought to turn scandal into perceived progress. The NFL needs a fresh face, fresh voice and fresh perspective more than it realizes. Think about the protest debacle. Kaepernick started kneeling during the anthem in 2016. It took more than a year for the owners to sit down with a group of players and understand their concerns about racial injustice and police brutality. And who was one of the most influential owners in brokering meaningful discussion? San Francisco 49ers chief executive officer Jed York, who is 37 and thinking differently than his colleagues.
Compare the NFL to the NBA, USA TODAY another largely African-American league, and it’s humiliating how old, white and out of touch the NFL looks. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver never had trouble understanding the societal issues that bothered his players, and NBA owners haven’t had major struggles supporting their players. As a result, the players haven’t felt the need to challenge the NBA’s hard-line policy about conduct during the anthem.
It’s not just about protests, though. The NFL is showing signs of trouble in many areas, from onfield quality to player discipline to rule book issues to player safety. It’s most worrisome that the league can’t see some of these problems