Transformation: The Impact of NFL’s
First Black Team President
By Ronda Keys, MBA, CMP, CMM, CEM, CTA, DES, HMCC, owner and event manager, Inspired Event Productions LLC, and Trudy Singh, CMP, regional vice president, NYC & Company – MPI Potomac Chapter Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee
This year has been one of transformation on many levels. The coronavirus pandemic has proved to be a life-changing world event with severe health and economic impacts. Recent racial tensions in the United States have forced the nation to examine issues of diversity, equity and inclusion on many levels. Equality in health care, institutional racism and disparaging symbols of the nation’s history have been challenged and tested. The National Football League (NFL), specifically the Washington Football Team, is a local organization that has faced some of these issues head on.
The Washington Football Team was established in 1932 by George Marshall as the Boston Braves. In 1933, its name was changed to the Redskins and the franchise relocated to Washington, D.C., in 1937. The team’s name and logo have been controversial from the onset, as many considered them offensive to Native Americans.
In addition to the name controversy, the team has faced other racial contention. For years, Marshall refused to integrate the franchise despite receiving pressure from both national tribal and civil rights organizations, The Washington Post and the federal government. During the height of the civil rights movement in 1961, the federal government attempted to integrate professional football by threatening legal action against the team. District of Columbia Stadium (later renamed Robert F. Kennedy Stadium) was the newly built home of the team and sat on federally owned land and thus under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior. When threatened with civil rights legal action that would have prevented the segregated team from playing at the stadium, Marshall finally agreed to integrate the team. The Washington Redskins were the last of the 14 NFL teams to integrate in 1962.
For many years, the team faced criticism over its name and logo. Mounting pressure from major sponsors FedEx, Nike and PepsiCo, in combination with the George Floyd protests in May, prompted the organization to change the name. As a result, in July the team retired the name Redskins and announced a temporary name and logo. For the 2020 season, the team will be known as the Washington Football Team until a more permanent name is found.
The Washington Football Team has recently been plagued with a series of racism and sexual harassment issues. To bring change to the organization, Jason Wright, an African-American former NFL player, has been named as the new president. Wright is the first African-American and youngest president in the NFL. After leaving the NFL, Wright earned an MBA from the University of Chicago and worked for McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm. His accomplishments at McKinsey include becoming a partner in the Operations Practice as well as working on an anti-racism and inclusion strategy for its Black Economic Institute.
According to team owner Dan Snyder, Wright’s "experience as a former player, coupled with his business acumen, gives him a perspective that is unrivaled in the league." Troy Vincent, executive vice president of football operations with the NFL, recently commented on the team’s hiring of its first Black president stating, “Jason Wright’s hiring is not only long overdue, it is the result of long-term and tireless efforts to achieve an open, equal and fair process where coaches, front office and C-suite talent of color have equitable opportunity to compete. The Washington Football Team’s example is commendable and should serve as a standard for the future.”
In addition to hiring Wright, other significant diversity changes have been made within the organization. In January, Ron Rivera was hired as the new head coach and first Latino to hold the position with the team. In July, the organization hired a woman to serve as its vice president of media. Julie Davidson is the highest-ranking female executive with the organization and the first woman to be a member of an NFL team’s radio broadcast.
This is the beginning of many changes and transformation. The newly formed MPI Potomac Chapter Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Committee is committed to bringing you relevant topics, our podcast series and our DE&I System and Roadmap.