The Rule at the Center of the N.F.L. Discrimination Lawsuit

The Daily

The New York Times

News, Daily News

4.5 • 97.8K Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2022

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As the N.F.L. season comes to a close, we’re looking at a class-action lawsuit that Brian Flores, a former head coach of the Miami Dolphins, has filed against the league. At the heart of the case is the Rooney Rule, a policy the league implemented two decades ago that has since been adopted across corporate America. We explore the lawsuit and the Rooney Rule, and we hear from Cyrus Mehri, a civil rights lawyer who helped create the policy. Guest: Ken Belson, a reporter covering the N.F.L. for The New York Times.

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0:00.0	From the New York Times, I'm Sabrina Tavernice. This is The Daily.
0:07.0	As the NFL season comes to a close, a former head coach of the Miami Dolphins has filed
0:16.0	a class action lawsuit against the league, accusing it of racial discrimination in its
0:21.6	hiring practices.
0:23.2	Today, my colleague Ken Belsing spoke to the civil rights lawyer who created the policy
0:30.8	at the center of the lawsuit.
0:40.2	It's Monday, February 14th.
0:45.5	So Ken, catch us up a bit here. What exactly has been going on with the NFL in this class
0:50.7	action lawsuit?
0:51.7	Well, it all starts with a guy named Brian Flores.
0:55.1	We are delighted to be joined by Brian Flores, who was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins
0:58.6	for the last several years, who has released the NFL.
1:00.4	And who is Brian Flores?
1:02.2	Brian Flores is a really interesting character in NFL terms.
1:05.7	He came from Brooklyn, grew up there, played football in college, and became a scouting assistant
1:10.8	with the New England Patriots during their very successful run of Super Bowl appearances.
1:15.0	Look, coaching is what I love. It's a passion of mine.
1:18.5	I'm called and gifted to do it.
1:21.6	And eventually he got a head coaching job with the Miami Dolphins in 2019 at a pretty young
1:27.6	age.
1:28.6	And look, the National Football League, I've been in the league 18 years.
1:31.4	He was less than 40 at the time.
	...

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