For the Denver Broncos, diversity is king. And that’s a wonderful thing.
On Wednesday, the Broncos’ new ownership group was ushered in at Dove Valley. Five of the six full and/or limited partners were present, and three of those at the press conference were either women or people of color. Those folks included Dr. Condoleeza Rice — who was born and raised in Denver and attended DU — and Mellody Hobson, the chairwoman of Starbucks.
And the one limited partner who wasn’t able to attend — Lewis Hamilton — is arguably the greatest Formula 1 driver in history, and also a young, black man.
Yes, the principal owner is Robson Walton — a 77-year old white man and heir to the Walmart throne — and his CEO is Greg Penner, his son-in-law. Penner is taking over for Joe Ellis, who basically called the shots at an executive level in recent years as part of the Pat Bowlen Trust. So, while Walton is “the owner,” Penner is the decision-maker, who will then report to Walton.
In his first move, Penner hired a team president. Many Broncos fans hoped that president would be Peyton Manning. Instead, the team hired Damani Leech, making him only the fourth person of color to be a team president in the NFL.
Leech joins the Broncos after serving as Chief Operating Officer of NFL International for the last three seasons, he’s been with the NFL’s league office in leadership positions since 2015 and spent 17 years at the NCAA’s league office before that.
“As we sought to identify a dynamic, forward-thinking and inspiring leader to guide the Broncos into this exciting new chapter, Damani stood out among several very qualified candidates,” Penner said of Leech. “There was a high degree of interest in this opportunity with the Broncos, which speaks to the reputation of this organization and Damani’s strong credentials.”
Simply, the NFL has a diversity problem in leadership. And they have for decades.
That’s the reason the league created the “Rooney Rule,” which requires teams to interview at least one ethnic-minority candidate when hiring a new head coach. As it’s evolved — mostly because it hasn’t worked — it requires teams to interview minorities for general manager positions as well as women for some front-office positions.
The point of the Rooney Rule was to see more black head coaches in the NFL, a league which is made up of nearly two-thirds black athletes. But, since the late 80s, there have been a mere 23 black head coaches in the league.
In fact, it’s been so difficult for black men to be hired as a head coach, former coach Brian Flores is suing the NFL, Miami Dolphins, New York Giants and the Denver Broncos for racism in the hiring process.
Flores’ lawsuit is a black eye on the league, coupled with the longstanding lack of black men in leadership positions, and other shocking things like former Super Bowl winning head coach Jon Gruden’s firing last year due to racist, sexist and homophobic emails.
A Slate column by Alex Kirshner last year said, “Jon Gruden is the NFL,” argued, “Gruden is a more comprehensive encapsulation of an NFL poster boy than almost anyone else on Earth.”
Simply, the NFL not only has a diversity problem, it has a homophobic, toxicity problem too.
Now, the Denver Broncos are leading the way in terms of diversifying their leadership, showing others the path. That should be celebrated and copied across the NFL.
But, there has already been backlash against Leech and the limited partners from fans who wanted Manning as the team president. “Woke Broncos are the worst Broncos,” one fan tweeted. “…guess the Broncos are going to be really ‘woke’ now,” another tweeted.
“Woke” is defined by Merriam-Webster as “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).” Apparently being aware of racial issues — like the league basically blackballing black owners, coaches and executives — is a bad thing to these people.
Hurling the term “woke” at those who seek greater understanding when it comes to diversity and racial issues is an attempt to be a slur against those equity-minded folks. It comes as no surprise those who use the term as a criticism are usually people without a college degree, and studies support the fact that being better educated helps people be less racist.
It also comes as no surprise when those same fans call players like Colin Kaepernick “anti-American” for kneeling during the National Anthem, or defend a player like Deshaun Watson in the midst of his 20-plus accusers of sexual assault.
Football fans must “protect the shield” at all costs. Some choose to support players even in the midst of violence against romantic partners (Tyreek Hill), and even sexual assault, like in Watson’s atrocious case.
Who cares? It’s all about what happens on Sundays to those people.
Some football fans want their football the way they’ve always had it. With a white head coach, a white quarterback, and the black players can make plays on the field, but shut up off of it. Those particular football fans are for preserving the toxicity, the anti-gay rhetoric and even to disparage women who cover the game, referee the game and the women who are making decisions at higher levels.
As the world has become more diverse, and as both women and minorities of all stripes have gained power, there’s been a harsh backlash by white men and women who see it as their power being taken away and given to those people of color.
The Broncos have basically spiked the football right in their faces. Denver’s premier sports franchise is doing the right thing, leading the way with minority owners and leadership people, and the NFL will continue to evolve in that way in the future.
Fans who don’t like it can, as they say, leave it. Stop watching if you don’t like the growing diversity of the league, because it’s not going anywhere.
