Florida attorney general gives NFL until May 1 to ditch Rooney Rule
The video posted by Florida attorney general James Uthmeier on Wednesday has been supplemented with formal correspondence. Via Andrew Atterbury of Politico, Uthmeier sent a letter to Commissioner Roger Goodell demanding that the Rooney Rule no longer be applied to NFL teams in Florida. In the letter , copies of which were sent to the owners of the Dolphins, Jaguars, and Buccaneers, Uthmeier asks for confirmation by May 1 "that the NFL will no longer enforce the Rooney Rule or any variation or extension thereof — which requires consideration of race, sex, or any other prohibited classification — on teams in Florida.
" Uthmeier adds that "[f]ailure to provide such confirmation may result in a civil rights enforcement action. " From the letter: "The NFL’s own Executive Vice President of NFL Operations has acknowledged that the NFL should create 'a workplace culture that doesn’t require mandates to interview people of color and minorities. ' If that is so, then stop discriminating based on race.
Stop discriminating based on sex. Interview, hire, and train based on merit. If merit-based employment should exist anywhere (and it should exist everywhere), it is in the NFL.
NFL fans in Florida don’t care what color their coach’s skin is. They care what colors their coach is wearing — and that those colors are winning on the football field. " Of course, the full quote from Troy Vincent reflects his stated belief that a " double standard " exists regarding white and minority coaches.
The Rooney Rule was created 23 years ago amid decades of hiring practices supporting the conclusion that the head-coach hiring practices had been heavily skewed toward white candidates. The league acted when it did in order to stave off a threat of litigation from Cyrus Mehri and the late Johnnie Cochran. Uthmeier's letter ignores the fact that litigation has been pending, for more than four years, regarding the firing of Brian Flores by the Dolphins.