The NFL has hired Loretta Lynch, a former U.S. attorney general, to represent it and its teams in Brian Flores’ case regarding race discrimination.
Lynch, who is the attorney general for the second half of the Obama administration, will be working with Brad Karp, chairman at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison. Karp has previously worked in concussion cases for the league.
Black Flores was fired last month as Miami’s coach despite two consecutive winning seasons. In a class action lawsuit, Flores named the league and three of its teams, the Dolphins, Denver Broncos, and New York Giants, earlier this month. He was claiming unfair hiring practices in NFL.
After the lawsuit was filed the league stated that it would defend itself against claims called “without merit”. The Dolphins, Broncos, and Giants also denied Flores’ allegations.
Soon thereafter, the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo to all 32 clubs stating: “We understand the concerns expressed coach Flores as well as others.” … We will continue to move forward with the legal process, but we won’t hesitate to revise and modify our strategies in order to make sure they align with our values and our long-standing commitment to diversity and equity.
The commissioner said the following during his annual Super Bowl news conference. Goodell was frequently questioned about diversity in the NFL, and Flores’ case.
“We will not tolerate racism. We will not tolerate discrimination. All of these allegations were very troubling to me, regardless of whether they were based in racism, discrimination, or the integrity and play of our game. These are serious issues for us all at all levels and we must investigate them all.”
Flores claims that he received a series of texts messages from Patriots coach Bill Belichick just three days before his Giants interview to be the new head coach. Flores believed that Brian Daboll had already been selected as his new coach after reading those texts.
Flores stated that it was embarrassing to be honest. Flores said that there was disbelief, anger, and a surge of emotion for many reasons.
This offseason, there were nine openings for head coaches. Two of them went to minorities: Mike McDaniel (who replaced Flores in Miami) and Lovie Smith (who is African American and took over from David Culley who was also Black). This brought the total number of minority head coaches up to five, with three Black. Black players make up more than 70% of the NFL’s players.
Flores claims in the lawsuit that Stephen Ross, the Dolphins’ owner, offered Flores $100,000 for each loss during his first season (2019), because he wanted the club “to tank” to get the top pick in the draft.
