NFL's hiring of former Attorney General Loretta Lynch is insidious PR move | Opinion
In February for Black History Month, Paste BN Sports is publishing the series 28 Black Stories in 28 Days. We examine the issues, challenges and opportunities Black athletes and sports officials continue to face after the nation’s reckoning on race two years ago.
You are really good, NFL. You are really, really good. The slickest of the slick. I see you. In some ways, I almost admire your gall.
The NFL hired former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to defend itself in the race discrimination case filed by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, as Bloomberg first reported. Lynch was the first Black female attorney general in this country's history.
Flores has alleged the NFL discriminates against Black coaches.
So the NFL hired a Black lawyer to defend itself.
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It's like the NFL is saying: How can we be racist? Some of our best friends are Super Bowl halftime show performers and Black lawyers.
The NFL has a difficult time hiring Black head coaches but it can find Black lawyers to defend itself against the fact it has a difficult time hiring Black head coaches.
You are good, NFL. You are really, really good.
My belief is that Lynch is a public relations tool. But I also allow for the possibility that I'm wrong and there's something more tactical about what the NFL is doing.
Lynch is a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and, according to Bloomberg, is working with the firm’s chairman, Brad Karp, on the NFL case. This is also not the only case of its kind Lynch has worked on. In fact, far from it.
Lynch has carved out a niche, it seems, defending companies or institutions accused of racial discrimination. McDonald's hired her firm to defend it against racism accusations from former franchise owners. She's also worked with the NFL before when two years ago she was part of the investigation into accusations of workplace harassment into the Washington team.
NPR notes that Lynch's firm has a lengthy relationship with the NFL that goes back 15 years, and accounts for 25 percent of all cases involving the NFL in federal courts.
So maybe it's a PR move. Maybe it's because she's an excellent litigator. Maybe it's because the firm has an extensive relationship with the NFL. Or is some combination of all those things.
Lynch, as the former attorney general, is obviously qualified. There are some who will wonder how she can take a case like this, and they will question how a Black woman can take the NFL's side in this situation. I won't question her Blackness. I'll leave that for others if they want.
The NFL hiring Lynch means something more to me. It means the NFL is nervous and it sees a huge fight ahead. So it is reaching for every possible angle it can win, including the public relations one. That's because it's likely Lynch will eventually become the face of the NFL's defense.
The NFL likely envisions Black coaches telling stories of being passed over and discriminated against. It could get ugly. And what better way to protect itself, the league thinks, than present a Black face to counter ugly narratives of racism.
No league cares about its image more than the NFL and it knows that image could be seriously hurt.
So enter Lynch.
The NFL will deny any contention the hiring of Lynch is a PR move, and say Lynch is a highly qualified lawyer (and she obviously is) and that's all that matters.
The NFL will be outraged, absolutely outraged, I tell you, over any suggestion they hired a Black face to help defend against Flores' suit.
But this is the NFL. When it comes to issues of race, its motives simply cannot be trusted. At all. In any way.
And I see you, NFL.
I see you.