Super Bowl LI was one of the most entertaining and riveting sport spectacles in recent memory. A legendary team versus an upstart. A comeback of epic proportions, with the surrounding backdrop of expensively produced commercials, a dynamic halftime show and unprecedented social media.
Despite the NFL’s annual crowning achievement, an ongoing challenge looms around the topic of diversity, which, ironically, was a primary theme of the Super Bowl broadcast.
Why provide that concern only moments after one of the greatest football games in history?
Well, an article previously published by Canadian journalist Sunni Khalid has long made us want to promote an idea suggesting the NFL could learn something about diversity from the Canadian Football League.
It’s rare to consider the CFL as a best practice site worthy of NFL investigation but maybe the time has come to provide that opinion.
As background, the NFL, from a player perspective, has come a long way in a generation. There are now African-American quarterbacks, coaches and general managers who are helping forge the imagery of a more racially diverse league. But Khalid has suggested the “NFL continues to lag behind its neighboring league to the north, which has a 60-year legacy of offering greater opportunities, both on the field and off, to African-Americans, who crossed the border to escape racial discrimination at home.”
Is that claim true? Possibly.
Looking north, we see the CFL is led by Commissioner Jeffrey Orridge, the first African-American to lead any pro league in North America. Laurel Richie (2011–15) and Lisa Borders (2016–present) have previously or are currently running the WNBA. In his public presentations, Orridge suggests the CFL and Canada are ahead in terms of racial integration and counts former CFL and NFL star Warren Moon among his role models.
From our outsider’s perspective, the hiring of an African-American commissioner is strong evidence of a more advanced league in terms of diversity. But maybe this shouldn’t surprise.
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The 2016 Grey Cup was a 39-33 overtime thriller won by the Ottawa Redblacks.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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The roots of modern racial integration actually started in Montreal and Toronto when Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier in 1946 in Montreal with the Royals (not 1947 in Brooklyn as is often told) and was soon followed by Bernie Custis, a Syracuse University graduate, who became the first black professional quarterback for the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1951.
One point from Khalid’s research capturing our attention was the case of Johnny Bright, a first-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1952. Bright chose the CFL instead in order to earn more money (the CFL paid on talent and not by race) and simultaneously avoid targeting by white players as happened while he was in college.
For some readers, the ancient history lesson is fine but why should they care? Did Super Bowl LI do anything to help frame larger agendas? We think it did.
First, there is research emerging (including from one of us) suggesting racial congruency (i.e., the match of the racial profile of the club with its local market) positively influences profitability. This means that a club’s choice of its 12th man or third-string quarterback, could be strategically selected (obviously assuming similar talent levels) based on their capacity to improve the club’s racial or sociocultural fit with its market.
Second, from a brand perspective, we argue that the CFL, although a much smaller financial operation, appeals to a broader range of fans due to its openness on diversity and the apparent lack of any deep concern about anyone’s particular race.
Many experts agree race is difficult to talk about in the United States and somehow always ends up as a divisive topic rather than a unifying one. At a recent conference, Pat Ivey, a former NFL player and the University of Missouri’s vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity and equity, said “race is about power and systems and less about an overt act by single individuals.” He built on his commentary by displaying a verbal equation that looked like this: “Race prejudice + social and institutional power = racism.”
Ivey further noted how sport helps us approach issues of difficulty because of our “interest convergence.” Many of us may like sport because we like the feeling winning produces. Our interests converge and allow us to set aside our differences in the interest of championships. It explains why Robinson’s courage in the late ’40s was, in many ways, as important to America’s civil rights movement as Dr. Martin Luther King’s work in the ’60s.
The phrase “keep your eyes on the prize” (long associated with the Civil Rights Movement) has been around for years, and for many in sport those words should infer that inclusion, equity or diversity will be provided and mandated by the controlling parties. But those are just words (and hollow ones at that) if the leagues and governing bodies (i.e., the system) are not committed to holistically making clear they will give not only equal opportunity but incremental opportunity to all historically under-represented communities.
Further, inclusion should not be a code word for a single race, gender, sexual orientation or country of origin. Inclusion is a commitment from a system where the power endorses and rewards the actions that deliver elusive prizes.
Few in the United States will want to hear that a football league in Canada does a better job at high-minded concepts like equality, diversity and inclusion. But it may be accurate suggesting the CFL, which played its historic 104th Grey Cup in Toronto last November, has developed a more comprehensive approach to systematically delivering respect and opportunity for all.
Certainly, to say the CFL was ahead of the NFL on this front in the 50s, 60s and 70s is clear.
For our hardest-bitten readers, though, the question immediately surfacing could be this: How does a commitment to inclusion make anyone more money? It is an old question and one frequently offered as a reason for those in power to avoid adjusting their system.
Some might be skeptical about the academic research suggesting racial congruency can drive profits. We’re here to convince readers otherwise. Not only is diversity the right thing but, if done correctly, can also improve bottom lines.
We also know the answer is not always about the upfront money. Instead, we suggest diversity and social justice enhance the holistic health and sustainability of an enterprise.
The old 1965 Motown song (by the Contours), “First I Look at the Purse,” is old school. Today, the first thing is looking at all of the people. And making sure we’re consistently doing, as Spike Lee suggested, the right thing.
Rick Burton (rhburton@syr.edu) is the David Falk Professor of Sport Management at Syracuse University. Norm O’Reilly (oreillyn@ohio.edu) is the Richard P. & Joan S. Fox Professor of Business and chair of the Department of Sports Administration at Ohio University.
