AP

Goodell says league won’t tolerate racism or discrimination

Feb 9, 2022, 12:45 AM | Updated: 7:36 pm

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks at a news conference Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Inglewood, C...

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks at a news conference Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

(AP Photo/Morry Gash)


              NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks at a news conference Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
            
              NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks at a news conference Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
            
              NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks at a news conference Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
            
              NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks at a news conference Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
            
              NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks at a news conference Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Under a baking California sun, Roger Goodell knew the heat was coming.

At his annual Super Bowl news conference Wednesday, the NFL commissioner was grilled on two hot topics that have put the league under heavy scrutiny: racism and discrimination in hiring. There were other issues that don’t shine a positive light on pro football, including threats to the integrity of the sport, and misconduct by players and team executives.

A week after former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores, who is Black, filed a lawsuit alleging both racism in the league and being offered money by team owner Stephen Ross to tank games, Goodell vowed action on several fronts.

“We won’t tolerate racism. We won’t tolerate discrimination,” Goodell said. “I found all of the allegations, whether they were based on racism or discrimination or the integrity of our game, all of those to me were very disturbing. They are very serious matters to us on all levels, and we need to make sure we get to the bottom of all of them.”

That begins with the NFL’s poor record for hiring minorities as head coaches. While the league has made progress with other jobs, from general managers to coordinators, the most visible representative of a franchise is the coach. There are five minority head coaches on the 32 teams, two Black, one biracial, one Hispanic and one Lebanese. Approximately 70% of NFL players are Black.

Asked if the process is flawed, from how interviews are conducted to who might be conducting them, Goodell said the league already is looking into that — whether it involves changes in the Rooney Rule that requires interviews of minority candidates for coaching and executive jobs, or a new rule entirely.

“I think that’s the core of the message that we’ve been talking about here is, OK, we’re not having this success we want with head coaches,” he noted. “How do we evolve that rule or do we have to have a new rule? Do we need to figure out some other way of being able to achieve that outcome? And I think we’re not going to rest until we find that and we get those kind of outcomes that I think are mandatory for us. That just has to be the way we’re going to move forward to happen inclusively.”

DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFLPA, said the Rooney Rule has turned into a “suggestion.”

“How important is a rule where it has no consequences? How strong is a rule where it has no transparency? How good is a rule if no one is held accountable to it?” Smith said shortly after Goodell left the stage. “But here’s the kicker, for a long time, people talked about how good the Rooney Rule was, we just needed to tweak it.”

The league, with help from an independent firm, has been putting together a set of guidelines for several months that will be available to the teams in the spring. It will, they hope, lead to “an optimization of the hiring process,” according to Jonathan Beane, the chief diversity and inclusion officer.

Flores’ charge of being offered $100,000 for each loss in 2019 to get the Dolphins to the top of the draft is being investigated by the league.

“And when we know what those facts are and the impact it has on our game, we’ll deal with it very seriously,” Goodell said.

What could have been a bright, cloudless afternoon gathering, with SoFi Stadium in the background and the Super Bowl back in the Los Angeles area for the first time in 29 years instead was filled with penetrating queries on a variety of subjects.

–Goodell defended the league using an oral report from an outside investigator into the work culture at the Washington Football Club, now the Commanders. He did not answer whether results of a new investigation into team owner Dan Snyder’s conduct will be released in a written report.

He also said the league did not make a deal with Snyder to have his approval for the release of any new information. The NFL announced Wednesday it was overseeing the investigation after Washington said the team had hired an outside investigator to look into allegations by former team employee Tiffani Johnston. She told Congress that Snyder groped her thigh at a team dinner and pushed her toward his limousine with his hand on her lower back years ago.

–New Orleans running back Alvin Kamara now is out of jail after he was arrested over the weekend on a felony charge alleging he beat and injured a person at a Las Vegas nightclub following the Pro Bowl. Goodell said the NFL’s security team was contacted by police in Las Vegas just before the game. Police wanted to meet with Kamara after the game and the security team made sure that happened.

–Goodell and other league officials have met with media mogul Byron Allen about his interest in buying the Denver Broncos and bringing diversity to ownership. The NFL has no majority Black owners and only two minority owners with Shad Khan in Jacksonville and Kim Pegula, who owns the Bills along with her husband, Terry.

Goodell added there are other minority candidates interested in buying teams.

__The NFL will play a regular-season game in Munich next season, part of a four-year deal to stage games in Germany.

The league has expanded its horizon in Europe after years of only playing games that count in England. The 2022 game will be part of a four-game series played abroad that also will include games in London. There also will be an additional game in Munich and two in Frankfurt over the next four seasons.

Participating teams will be revealed when the schedule is released in the spring.

Goodell also says the league will return to Mexico City next season. There was no game there in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

___

More AP Super Bowl coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/super-bowl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

Associated Press

Ex-Packer Guion gets 1 year for domestic violence assault

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Former Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Letroy Guion was sentenced to one year in jail after pleading no contest in a domestic violence assault at his home last fall. Brown County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Walsh also ordered Guion on Tuesday to serve three years’ probation and complete a domestic […]

1 year ago

Joe Jarzynka...

Associated Press

Durant eager for Suns debut vs. Hornets after knee injury

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kevin Durant has been through quite a bit during his 15-year NBA career — but joining a new team midway through the season is a new one for the 13-time All-Star. The 34-year-old Durant doesn’t seem all that worried. Durant makes his highly anticipated Phoenix Suns debut on Wednesday night against […]

1 year ago

FILE - Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores stands on the sideline during the second half of an N...

Associated Press

Judge: NFL coach can press discrimination claims in court

NEW YORK (AP) — NFL Coach Brian Flores can pursue some of his discrimination claims against the league and its teams in court rather than through arbitration, a judge ruled Wednesday. The written decision by Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan was issued months after lawyers for the league tried to get the lawsuit moved to […]

1 year ago

Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Alex Stalock cools off in the first period during an NHL hockey game ...

Associated Press

Kane trade reinforces hard reality of Blackhawks rebuild

CHICAGO (AP) — After days of speculation, the harsh reality of the Chicago Blackhawks’ situation was reinforced by one move in a flurry of transactions ahead of the NHL trade deadline. Showtime is over, at least in Chicago, and a seemingly bright future is, well, way off in the distance. The reverberations of Chicago’s decision […]

1 year ago

FILE -  Yves Jean-Bart, president of the Haitian Football Federation, wearing a protective face mas...

Associated Press

Disgraced ex-Haitian soccer president announces he’s back

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s former soccer federation president whose lifetime ban from sport over sexual abuse allegations was overturned last month announced Wednesday that he is reclaiming his position. Yves Jean-Bart’s defiant announcement could lead to a standoff with FIFA, which already has appointed an emergency management committee to lead the Haitian Football Association […]

1 year ago

FILE - Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers walks off the field after an NFL football game against the ...

Associated Press

Rodgers says decision on future will come ‘soon enough’

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers says he will make a decision on his future “soon enough” as the four-time MVP quarterback ponders whether to play next season and if his future remains with the Green Bay Packers. Rodgers, 39, discussed his future while speaking on an episode of the “Aubrey Marcus Podcast” that […]

1 year ago

Goodell says league won’t tolerate racism or discrimination