The NFL’s Rooney Rule, which requires NFL teams to interview ethnic-minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs, has been in place for 20 years. But outgoing NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith thinks the rule is a failure and wants it abolished.
On Wednesday, Smith published a nearly 100-page paper he has worked on for roughly two years where he calls for the abolition of the Rooney Rule, highlighting why the rule has been a failure, pointing out that the rule didn’t actually obligate the owners to make any changes.
“The system is broken from the inside out and outside and any effort to affect it that didn’t obligate NFL Owners to adherence or reform was doomed from the start,” Smith told Yahoo Sports via text message.
Smith’s paper also addressed last week’s Supreme Court ruling that banned affirmative action in college admittance, pointing out that the case could have ramifications for private businesses in the future.
“As a strict legal matter, the Supreme Court’s ruling does not directly impact private businesses. But the reality of its possible impacts beyond the specifics of that case is troubling. The need, therefore, for fair, equitable, and lawful hiring practices in the NFL can never be greater, and the necessity of government investigation and oversight as well as the enforcement of equitable hiring practices has never been more necessary.”
We’ll have to see what this means for the Rooney Rule in the future.
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