NFL Expands Rooney Rule To Include Front-Office Positions
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Goodell (r) Says Rooney Rule Will Be Expanded
To GM Jobs, Head Coaching Vacancies |
The NFL yesterday said that it has extended its minority-interviewing Rooney Rule to "include openings for general manager jobs and equivalent front-office positions, in addition to head coaching vacancies," according to Mark Maske of the WASHINGTON POST. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell last month at NFL owners meetings indicated that he "planned to expand the rule." Under the new policy, "any team seeking to hire a senior football operations official for its front office must interview at least one minority." The rule previously only applied to head coaching positions. The NFL indicated that the new interviewing rule will "not apply to a case in which a team's top front-office job is held or filled by the franchise's owner or a member of his or her family, or in a case in which a team has an existing contractual obligation to promote a member of its front-office staff." Maske notes the Fritz Pollard Alliance (FPA), "formed to promote diversity in hiring at all levels in the NFL, had pressed in recent years for the league to extend its minority interviewing requirement to key front-office jobs." However, NFL officials until recently had "resisted making that move, instead asking teams to follow the guideline voluntarily" (WASHINGTON POST, 6/16).
A CHANGE WAS NEEDED: Five minorities currently hold "top front-office positions" with NFL franchises, and FPA Chair John Wooten said that the need to expand the Rooney Rule "became clear after six general manager positions were filled during the offseason without serious consideration given to minority candidates." In Pittsburgh, Scott Brown notes extending the rule could be one of Steelers Chair Dan Rooney's "final contributions as an NFL owner" before he vacates the post to become U.S. Ambassador to Ireland (Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 6/16). Goodell yesterday also "'strongly urged' teams to interview a 'broad and diverse slate of candidates' for most other football operations roles, including scouting, player personnel, and contract management positions." PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio noted there has been "no public outcry for expansion of the rule," so the "impetus for the change isn't clear" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 6/15).
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