Civil Rights Leaders Trying to End Rooney Rule

The group met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss the matter.

PITTSBURGH -- A civil rights group met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in hopes of abolishing the NFL's Rooney Rule, put in place in 2003 by Pittsburgh Steelers' late owner Dan Rooney.

National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial, National Action Network Founder and President Rev. Al Sharpton, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation President and CEO Melanie Campbell, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson, and National African American Clergy Network co-convener Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner called for the meeting in response of the Brian Flores lawsuit towards the NFL.

"However well-intentioned, the effect of the Rooney Rule has been for team decision-makers to regard interviews with candidates of color as an extraneous step, rather than an integral part of the hiring process," Morial said, noting that the NFL currently has only one Black head coach, two fewer than when the Rule was established. "The gravity of the situation is long past the crisis point."

"The Rooney Rule has been proven to be something the owners used to deceptively appear to be seeking real diversity," Sharpton said. "We must have firm targets and timetables."

Sharpton also said he has began communications with states and municipalities to stop public funding and tax incentives towards NFL stadiums until these changes are made firm.

"NAN also has begun talking to members of Congress about Congressional hearings since public funds are being used to uphold this biased enterprise," Sharpton said. "Lastly, we will be going to major advertisers telling them they cannot continue to use our dollars in this unacceptable economic arrangement."

The group was a firm supporter of Flores in the lawsuit. The former Dolphins head coach is claiming his interview with the New York Giants was a "sham" after already knowing they were going to hire Brian Daboll. He filed a 58-page lawsuit against the league, which included teams such as the Giants, Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins.

"While the NFL has begun making strides with regard to social justice and racial equity, it's clear that voices of color are not being entirely heard in the executive suites," Sharpton said. "Good intentions are not enough."

Goodell and the group agreed to continue to keep working towards diversity, equity and inclusion at every level of the NFL.

"We agree that Coach Flores' lawsuit presents the League with an opportunity to engage in substantive change and we will do everything in our power to make sure that opportunity is not squandered," Williams-Skinner.

Steelers President Art Rooney II released a statement on the Rooney Rule following Flores's lawsuit, acknowledging the subtle progress in head coaching hires. 

"While I acknowledge that we have not seen progress in the ranks of Head Coaches, we have seen marked improvement in the hiring of women and minorities in other key leadership roles such as Coordinator positions, General Manager positions, and front office positions both in and out of football operations," Rooney said. "I believe this progress has been made as a result of the implementation of many of the enhanced policies that were recently adopted."

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