CAN WE PUT A “STATISTICAL STATISTICAL FACE” FACE ON INEQUITY? Racial equity is an issue that has long stared into the face of sport. Like many parts of American society, big decisionmakers have been slow to take action-oriented plans, not solely to embrace diversity but also to proactively address disparity in many of its dimensions including race, gender and other forms of identity. In large part, sports institutions and those who work within them are facing historic and systemic barriers, so the simple act of determining where to start is a difficult task.
“How do you change people’s hearts?” he asked. “That’s the challenge of 2021.”
Undeniably, George Floyd’s death had a profound global impact during the summer of 2020 and into 2021. It will forever mark a significant shift for many, including those within the world of sport. We witnessed a number of athletes, brands, teams and governing bodies decry racism and violence at varying degrees of commitment and action. Some were expected, some were called upon, and many if not all were heavily scrutinized.
— William C. Rhoden, senior visiting practitioner
Perhaps one of the most unanticipated official statements came from the NFL and its commissioner, Roger Goodell, who spoke the words “Black lives matter.” In February 2021 and during the months after these statements were made, the Global Sport Institute dug even deeper into exactly what kind of progress a large sports league like the NFL had achieved, using the context of how many people of Color were represented in leadership positions on the field. Unique to the NFL? The well-known Rooney Rule, the intent of which was to fill in the racial gaps. In response to statements like Goodell’s, Global Sport Institute senior visiting practitioner William C. Rhoden said pointedly, “We want deeds. We don’t want any more words.”
2
A N N UA L R E P O R T 2020–21
“We want deeds. We don’t want any more words. How do you change people’s hearts? That’s the challenge of 2021.”
In 2021, another NFL hiring cycle came and went in which just two of the seven coaches hired were non-White. Meanwhile in the NBA, Becky Hammon, a woman who coaches for the San Antonio Spurs, was passed over yet again for a head coach job. The hiring patterns clearly illustrated by our Field Studies data largely continued. Yet alongside the increased willingness to address institutional racism in the U.S., there were also notable exceptions to these trends. Nina King, a Black woman, was hired as Duke’s next athletic director, punctuating gains by Black women in Power Five athletic director roles in recent years. Although there were no changes in gender-based hiring in the NBA, seven of eight head coach vacancies were filled by Black men. Outside the leadership sphere, conversations around race and sport broadened. MLB moved its All-Star game from Georgia in response to recently-passed voting bills, while athlete protests continued at the Olympics as attention turned toward Rule 50 and its ban against athlete demonstrations. The Tokyo Olympic Games provided new context for some of the earliest content released by the
