NFL.com columnist Jim Trotter had the chance last week in Phoenix ahead of the Super Bowl to ask NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about the league’s ongoing commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Trotter’s been at NFL Media for five years, and he pointed out to Goodell – much like he did in Los Angeles at last year’s Super Bowl – that in his time working for the league there has yet to be any Black representation in the newsroom’s senior management. In his question, he also cited league data that the player population was 60-70% Black. Goodell spoke from a broader perspective on league-wide initiatives to focus on diversity, equity and inclusion and said he didn’t run the newsroom at NFL Media.
Trotter said he felt like the newsroom leadership is not reflective of the community that it covers, so he needed to ask Goodell about it again.
“So I knew I had asked him about it the year before, and I knew there had been no real progress as it relates to the areas that I asked him about a year earlier,” Trotter said in his recent appearance on Sports Media with Richard Deitsch. “So I felt that it was important to ask him in that situation because it’s not something I haven’t brought up internally over the course of the last year with the powers that be at the media group.”
Trotter said he wasn’t using his question as a “gotcha” opportunity.
“Some people think I’m attacking the commissioner. I am not attacking the commissioner,” he said. “All I’m asking is that the league’s actions reflect their words. And to this point that’s not what we have. And I believe that it is critically important for there to be Black representation in senior management in the newsroom based on the fact that we cover a player population – again according to league data – that is 60-70% Black.
“Because if we don’t have that, it means that there’s no one who looks like these players or has the same cultural experience that these players have had at the decision-making table when they are deciding how these men are covered, who covers them and when they’re covered,” Trotter added. “So for me, that is an issue.”
Trotter said in terms of Goodell acting like he was unfamiliar with who’s in senior management at NFL Media, he found that hard to believe.
“The reality is the league office sets our budget at NFL Media. They know who the employees are and who they are not,” Trotter said. “The senior management at NFL Media has to report its diversity numbers to the league as does every other department at the NFL. If he is unaware of these things the people directly under him who are responsible for these issues should know these numbers.”
