Major Sports Leagues Continue to Emphasize Racial Equality

The wall between social justice and sports has finally tumbled

At the beginning of 2020, the biggest headlines in sports revolved around LeBron James’ ability to win a championship as a Los Angeles Laker, a cheating scandal from the Houston Astros and the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick break-up. Now it’s October, and the storylines couldn’t look more different. 

The COVID-19 pandemic is one element that rocked the world, but the social justice movement sweeping all corners of the nation is another. On May 25, George Floyd was murdered by police officers in Minnesota, causing individual athletes, teams and league officials to speak out against police brutality. Three months later, after the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man in Wisconsin, many decided that enough was enough. Players boycotted games, teams protested and leagues supported their athletes’ demands for change. 

With almost every sport happening at once this fall, it’s important to point out the concrete steps each league has taken, or failed to take, in order to enact real change towards racial equality. A tool that is being increasingly used in today's sports world is the Racial and Gender Report Card (RGRC) created by an industry known as TIDES. The card gives letter grades by racial and gender makeup of North American sports leagues, ranging from players, coaches, front office members and other industry employees. This article will use the RGRC as a way to analyze racial reform in each league.

NFL

Since Colin Kaepernick first took a knee in a preseason game in 2016, the National Football League (NFL) has only struggled to find appropriate ways to handle racial justice reform.

The NFL has a history of trying to ignore these crucial, politically divisive topics, so it comes as no surprise that there was not an outpouring of support upon the emergence of the BLM movement. Instead—after mounting pressure from the NFL community—Commissioner Roger Goodell promised to use $250 million that the league fundraised towards social justice initiatives aimed to combat systemic racism. 

As promising as this sounds, there’s already doubt that this will lead to any significant changes. 

“They’ve tried their best to throw money behind it for a long time,” said San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman. “It’s being consistent year in and year out. . .it’s not just this year, not just 2016, not just 2017, but ‘Black Lives Matter.’ They have to matter forever.” 

Considering that 70% of the league is black, the BLM movement should have an even stronger presence in the NFL. According to TIDES, the NFL recently had its lowest combined racial and gender hiring score since 2004. In 2019, the NFL received a 76%—breaking its nine-year streak of obtaining an A- or above. In 2003, the NFL created the Rooney Rule which required teams to have one candidate of color be interviewed for a head coach position. Despite this rule, there are currently only four head coaches of color and only 12.8% of vice presidents and above are people of color. 

After facing heavy criticism, the NFL decided to incorporate social justice messages into their season. The end zones will display either “It Takes All Of Us” or “End Racism” while players will wear warm up shirts that either have a supportive phrase or the name of a victim. Hopefully these new initiatives will encourage the NFL to promote change for good. 

NBA

In contrast to the NFL, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has taken far bigger strides towards racial justice reform. From encouraging players to protest to physically changing their courts to support the movement, the NBA has shown consistency in demanding change. 

“For three decades the NBA has been out front,” said Richard Lapchick, author of the TIDES report. “They continue to have leadership from the top of the league and at the individual level.” 

The NBA is a trailblazer when it comes to racial and gender hiring practices. The league has offered countless ways to support its players. Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA is someone who regularly stands up to racism. In 2014, he banned Donald Sterling from the NBA after tapes surfaced of Donald Sterling making racist remarks. He also allowed players to vocalize their concerns and contribute to communities in need. As a leader in the league, Silver sets precedents for diversity and inclusion. 

The NBA was quick to recognize the importance of social justice and voted to have players wear an approved message on the back of their jersey. In an effort to bring awareness, the NBA will also print ‘Black Lives Matter’ slogans on the courts, have regular guest speakers, and facilitate conversations for how players can utilize their platforms. 

WNBA

Similar to its male counterpart, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) has used its platform to put forth a strong, united movement against racial injustice issues. 2019 marked the 15th consecutive season that the WNBA earned at least an A grade for its gender and racial hiring practices.

Dating back to July 9, 2016, the Minnesota Lynx wore custom shirts that read “Change Starts With Us: Justice & Accountability.” The shirts honored two then-recently killed black men: Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, and included the Dallas Police crest to honor five officers who were killed in a shooting. 

Since then, players continuously raised the bar for one another. Maya Moore, former first overall pick by the Lynx, recently stepped away from the WNBA to bring awareness to prosecutorial misconduct and try to overturn the wrongful conviction of Jonathan Irons. 

After the NBA postponed playoff games in late August due to the Jacob Blake shooting, SportsCenter claimed the WNBA’s decision to postpone three playoff games simply followed the NBA’s lead. While this is true, WNBA players were among the first athletes to wear warm-up shirts affirming social Black Lives Matter, hold team-wide media blackouts and even take a knee during the national anthem.

The league’s message has been consistent and straightforward for nearly half a decade: the wrongful deaths of Black people can no longer be disregarded. Nearly 80% of WNBA players are Black. The women realize how powerful their platform is. 

NHL

A neutral setting with no fans in the stadium for a playoff game is strange, but so is the National Hockey League (NHL) backing players who take a knee for the United States national anthem or publicly speak out on fighting racism. 

For many years, the NHL kept politics out of hockey. The league is made up of roughly 97% white players, and until this year, not many of those players utilized their platform to advocate for change. 

Over a month ago, Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba addressed a national TV audience before Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers began their game. Dumba is one of the league’s few players of color.

“The world [and NHL] woke up to the existence of systematic racism and how deeply rooted it is.”

In June, players of color from the league formed a new group called Hockey Diversity Alliance led by San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane. The group aims to inspire a new generation of hockey players and fans and “eradicate racism and intolerance in hockey.” Despite all this, the NHL remains the only major North American sports league to not volunteer for a RGRC by TIDES. 

While it’s obvious that the NHL has more work to do, nearly 140 NHL players have posted on social media in support of the league’s anti-racism message—a sign that players and teams are publicly promoting a culture change. 

MLB

Baseball used to be one of the most segregated sports in history, with a Negro League established for all the Black players. Even though it’s been over seven decades since the color barrier broke,  Major League Baseball (MLB) has quite frankly seen little progress in racial justice. 

There is a minority issue in MLB from the top down. There is only one Black general manager, two Black team managers, and less than 8% of the players are Black. MLB saw a slight decrease in its racial hiring grade from 89.4% in 2019 to 88.7% in 2020, with an RGRC score of B+. Washington Nationals player Ian Desmond called the league out loud and clear in a post on Instagram. 

“If baseball is America’s pastime, maybe it’s never been a more fitting one than now.”

His fellow teammate Sean Doolittle supported that notion, saying “We have to shut up, listen and figure out a way to address these issues.”  

From a marketing standpoint, MLB saw players wear social justice patches on their jerseys, painted BLM behind home plates and pitching mounds and allowed players and coaches to kneel during the national anthem. Games were boycotted for one day in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake as well. Organizations have tweeted their support for victims of police brutality all summer long. But for a sport that relies so heavily on the legacy Jackie Robinson left behind, the league may need to show more aggressive support for racial reform. 

Whether the actions each league has taken appear to be only a slight nod or a large leap toward racial reform, progress is being made. This storyline is just getting started.