St. Louis’ successful bid to land an MLS franchise, with an ownership group led by Carolyn Kindle Betz and other female members, will help the league raise one of its lowest grades on 2019 The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports report card.
While I’m not a fan of MLS Commissioner Don Garber, his league office received an A+ for racial hiring and a B+ for gender hiring. During the 2018 season, people of color held 38.6 percent of the jobs in the league office (up from 36.7 percent in 2017) and women held 40.9 percent of the jobs (up from 39 percent.)
TIDES Director Richard Lapchick said the report card, which was released in January before St. Louis was awarded an expansion franchise, “displays mixed performance regarding racial and gender hiring practices overall.”
“The League’s weakest area with great need for improvement continues to be in team senior administrative positions where MLS teams earned a C+ for race and a D+ for gender hiring,” he said.
Like other U.S. sports leagues, with the exception of the NBA, the MLS office does a better job of minority and gender hiring than individual franchises.
“The teams need to follow the League’s example more closely,” Lapchick states in the report.
With data provided by MLS, the grades were assigned based on management in the MLS League Office and at various levels within each MLS franchise such including top management, team senior administration, team professional administration, physicians and athletic trainers.
The number of owners (which thanks to St. Louis will now have one female), head coaches and general managers for the 2018 Report Card was updated through December 21, 2018.
The listing of grades on positions held by people of color, which all increased from the previous year, include:
Hiring of MLS head coaches (B+, 22.7 percent); Hiring of assistant coaches (A+, 40.3 percent); Hiring of general managers (A, 29.2 percent); Hiring of senior administrators (C+, 15 percent); Hiring of professional administrators (B+. 21.5 percent.)
MLS’ lowest grade was a D+ for gender hiring for senior administrators, with 26.5 percent of the jobs being held by women. It was an increase from the previous year. MLS received a C for gender professional hiring because its 3.6 percent was a decline from the 2017 season.
According to the TIDES report:
The Houston Dynamo, Portland Timbers, Chicago Fire, NY Red Bulls and FC Dallas were coached by men of color when the 2019 season started.
Assistant coaches of color increased dramatically for the second year in a row by 14.4 percentage points from 25.9 percent in 2017 to 40.3 percent in 2018.
Only one person of color held a CEO/president position – Alex Leitao of Orlando City Soccer.
There were seven men of color holding a position MLS classified as general manager in 2018, an increase of three from 2017. They were Manny Lagos, Minnesota United FC; Jimmy Smith, FC Dallas. Peter Vagenas, LA Galaxy; Claudio Reyna, NYCFC; Nelson Rodriguez, Chicago Fire; Carlos Bocanegra, Atlanta United and Denis Hamlett, NY Red Bulls.
MLS also received an A+ for its numerous diversity outreach efforts and work in the communities which are home to franchises.
Included is MLS WORKS, the league’s community outreach initiative “dedicated to addressing important social issues and serves as a platform for both League and club philanthropic programs.”
To find the full MLS report card, and other TIDES report cards for other sports leagues, visit https://www.tidesport.org/.
More soccer slurs
A Utah Royals fan has been banned from all games at Utah’s Rio Tinto Stadium and all National Women’s Soccer League games, after yelling racist taunts at Portland Thorns’ black goalkeeper Adrianna Franch during a game last week.
Franch, a member of the USWNT that won the World Cup title, stated on Twitter that racist taunts of black players are an ongoing problem.
“The situation surrounding our game Friday night is not a NEW issue, nor is it a first for me,” she wrote.
“RACISM is NOT okay in any form!! We as a HUMAN RACE can be better and should be better. We as a SPORT can help show the way.”
The NWSL Players Association released a statement saying, “the NWSL would like to publicly state that we will push to make sure there are League- and team-wide policies to eradicate any racist behavior from our stadiums.”
“As players, we have a zero-tolerance policy for anyone who is not operating with a spirit of inclusion.”
Upon announcing the fan’s ban, the NWSL posted a statement the closed with, “NWSL will not tolerate inappropriate behavior. Racism has no place in our sport.
Meg Linehan, a writer for The Athletic, chastised the NWSL for not having a league-wide policy on conduct of fans – especially when racial taunts are involved – and said MLS could do more as well.
“How this investigation is handled will define the league’s approach to a code of conduct,” Linehan wrote.
“There’s little desire for a copy and pasted version of the MLS rules for stadium conduct, but there is potential for the NWSL to set itself apart and create a policy that reflects its fan base while still protecting those in the stands and on the field.”
California Dreamin’
For the first time in U.S. and NCAA history, college athletes’ images and names will become something they can earn money from, thanks to the The Fair Pay to Play Act — which passed through both the California State Senate and State Assembly last week .
The bill would allow student-athletes in California to profit from the use of their own name, image and likeness, and pursue similar endorsement opportunities provided to Olympic athletes.
Sounds fair, doesn’t it?
The NCAA does not think so, and is feverishly trying to convince Gov. Gavin Newsom to veto the bill – which received heavy b-partisan support.
Supporters of the bill include LeBron James and Democratic presidential contender Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Of course, coaches fearing that the bill will give California schools a recruiting advantage, are speaking out. In the case of gadfly Washington State football coach Mike Leach, insults and ignorance are the basis of his argument.
“The state of California has trouble keeping their streets clean right now, so my thought is that they probably ought to focus on that,” Leach said Monday.
“That’s just one guy’s opinion and I’m sure that I’m probably wrong, but at the rate that California is handling their infrastructure and some of their other problems, you know, I think that we’ll see how they do with that before I really think it would be that beneficial for the legislature of California to enter into college football.”
ESPN college football analyst and former Florida star Tim Tebow ripped the bill last week, saying it would destroy many reasons fans support college football. During his tirade on ESPN’s First Take, he forgot to mention that he wore and sold shirts licensed to him during press conferences and other events. He cashed in on his collegiate success while he was in college and on the Gators football team.
Some legislators in North Carolina and South Carolina are sponsoring similar bills, and, if passed, it could steer other states in that direction.
Once a state with a team in the SEC passed a similar bill, how long would it be for Alabama coach Nick Saban to demand his state legislature to do the same?
Missouri could be among the first states to lead the SEC into this uncharted territory. In return the state’s best high school athletes would have more reason to stay home than hit the road for college athletics.
The Reid Roundup
Don’t worry, the St. Louis Cardinals will hang on … Le’veon Bell is with the New York Jets, Antonio Brown is with the New England Patriots and Ben Roethlisberger is out for the season with an elbow injury. What a difference a year makes for Steelers fans … I mentioned on the Charlie Tuna Show last week that New England should be worried that another woman will claim that Brown assaulted her. It has happened … Dak Prescott’s value is soaring right now after two great performances to open the season. Dallas should have signed him before the season began … I listened to KTGR, the sports voice of Columbia, earlier this week. Lots of talk about continuing fan apathy and empty seats at games … The Tigers should tackle South Carolina on Saturday – a loss would be a major blow to the program and coach Barry Odom … After countless defections, the U.S. basketball team had no chance to win a gold medal at the World Cup in China. Look for Team USA to win the gold at the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020 … Here we go again. The Washington Wizards brass says it has no intention of trading guard Bradley Beal – for now.
