MLS received an A grade for racial hiring and a C- grade for gender hiring from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, under a significantly higher standard for the grades this year.
Overall, MLS received a grade of B from the institute known as TIDES. All three grades are lower than last year, at least in part because of the higher grading standard, which includes hiring at the team level as well as the league level.
Richard Lapchick, TIDES director, said if MLS were graded on the league office only, it would receive an A+ on racial hiring and a B+ on gender hiring. He has previously predicted that grades at all the major leagues would dip as a result of the changes TIDES implemented this year.
MLS has the second-highest grade of all the men’s leagues on racial hiring with a score of 90.7. Only the NBA, known for its progressive stance on diversity, scores higher on racial hiring, with a score of 96.2. MLS received a score of 93.9 last year for racial hiring.
But for gender hiring, MLS scored a 69.9 this year, which is a C- on TIDES’ scale, down from a grade of C and a score of 72.0 last year.
“Clearly they have done very well even at the league office on gender, but getting it down to the team level has been discouraging,” Lapchick said. “It’s four years in a row the grade has gone down.”
He noted that at the league office, 17 women hold the title of vice president or above and the league promoted a woman, JoAnn Neale, to president last year.
Neale was not available for an interview, but said in a statement in response to questions from Sports Business Journal that diversity, equity and inclusion are priorities for the league. “Major League Soccer has a longstanding commitment to recruiting diverse talent who bring varied perspectives across all aspects of our business and to creating an inclusive workplace culture,” Neale said. “While we remain committed to hiring and retaining employees who reflect a multicultural workforce, we know there is still more work that can be done.”
