'Black Men Do Not Get The Same Opportunities': Brian Flores' Attorney Blasts NFL
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The fallout continues after former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL.
"Black men do not get the same opportunities as white men do in terms of coaching, managing, and something needs to change," said Brian Flores' attorney, David Gottlieb.
Gottlieb says his client's recent claim of discrimination in the NFL is nothing new, and adds Flores is just the first person who's been brave enough to speak out, which only happened after his interview with the Giants.
"He learns before the interview that a decision has already been made and it's not him," explained Gottlieb. "And the only reason they're doing the interview is a sham to comply with the Rooney Rule."
The Rooney Rule, which was adopted in 2003, requires every NFL team with a head coaching vacancy to interview at least one diverse candidate.
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But CBS Sports reporter Jonathan Jones said the allegations in the lawsuit that Dolphin owner Steve Ross offered Flores $100,000 for every game they lost in 2019 may be even bigger than the hiring issue.
"If the team owner is monetarily incentivizing the head coach to actively lose the game, then it's not any given Sunday and the integrity is called into question," said Jones. "And then on top of all of that the fact that Steven Ross at the same time in 2019 has been reported to be invested in sports gambling companies."
But the dolphins have denied any wrongdoing.
"Regardless of whether anything actually took place, the perception is already terrible. Not only is this going to lead to a loss of draft picks, we're talking about fines, we're talking about potential Steven Ross expelled as an owner of an NFL club, we're talking about congressional subpoenas and regulations. This will be far, far reaching and a massive issue if there's actually evidence," said Jones.
Jones adds Flores has gone on the record saying he does have that evidence and that he was discriminated against and labeled as an angry Black man when he refused to follow the requests. But Dolphins brass pointed to their diversity matrix to deny the discrimination claims, stating they have 11 minorities in their football operations and front office leadership.
Gottlieb responded to those claims, saying, "The defense that because 'we have some Black people in some positions proves that we don't discriminate,' I think that's really insufficient. We would like to see a real explanation why Brian Flores was treated the way he was in in Miami and why Black people across the NFL are treated the way they are relative to their white counterparts."