Flores Drops Bombshell Lawsuit Against NFL
Flores claims that he was ostracized and ultimately fired, labeled by Dolphins brass as someone who was difficult to work with.
Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores dropped a bombshell of a complaint against the National Football League, New York Giants, Denver Broncos, and the Dolphins, which was timed to be filed on the first day of Black History Month. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, indicates that Flores is a class representative who seeks relief not only for himself but for all others similarly situated.
It begins with a quoted text message that Flores received from New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who mistakenly informed Flores three days prior to his interview with the Giants that another Brian — Brian Daboll — was already selected for the position Flores coveted. A reader quickly understands the gist of the entire lawsuit from that one string of quoted text; Flores has finally had it with what he sees as systematic race bias within the NFL as he looks over the landscape and sees that white males continue to benefit from job vacancies, believing the NFL’s “Rooney Rule” to be a sham.
The NFL implemented the Rooney Rule roughly 20 years ago with the underlying premise to alter the landscape, which was one where very few Black candidates had any chance of becoming a head coach in the league. It required that teams begin to interview at least one Black person whenever a head coaching vacancy arose, and it was expanded to cover other front-office positions and coaching opportunities. The rule was also amended so that teams must interview two minority coaching candidates, with at least one interview being in person.
“It is not working because the numbers of Black Head Coaches, Coordinators and Quarterback Coaches are not even close to being reflective of the number of Black athletes on the field,” states the complaint. “The Rooney Rule is also not working because management is not doing the interviews in good-faith, and it therefore creates a stigma that interviews of Black candidates are only being done to comply with the Rooney Rule rather than in recognition of the talents that the Black candidates possess.”
Flores attacks the Dolphins for his refusing to comply with the team owner Stephen Ross’s demands. He alleges in the complaint that, during the 2019 NFL season, Ross told Flores he would receive $100,000 for every loss and that after the season he was pressured to recruit a prominent quarterback (reportedly Tom Brady) in violation of the NFL’s tampering rules. Flores claims that he was then ostracized and ultimately fired, and labeled by Dolphins brass as someone who was difficult to work with, which is reflective of an all too familiar “angry Black man” stigma.
The burden will be on Flores to prove that Ross actually offered such a bribe and asked that he take action that amounts to violating the NFL’s tampering rules. It would be shocking if Ross actually put the offer in writing. For what it is worth, Flores’s lawyer says there is corroborating evidence about Ross offering $100,000 to throw games. The Dolphins organization does not seem concerned.
“We are aware of the lawsuit through the media reports that came out this afternoon. We vehemently deny any allegations of racial discrimination and are proud of the diversity and inclusion throughout our organization,” reads a statement from the Dolphins. “The implication that we acted in a manner inconsistent with the integrity of the game is incorrect. We will be withholding further comment on the lawsuit at this time.”
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Flores’ complaint goes on to say that his interview with the Giants was not his first “sham interview” merely scheduled to comply with the Rooney Rule. Per Flores, in 2019 he interviewed with the Broncos and that the franchise never had any intention to consider him as a legitimate candidate. He believes that to be true based on then-general manager John Elway and CEO Joe Ellis showing up an hour late to the scheduled interview looking “completely disheveled, and it was obvious that they had [been] drinking heavily the night before.”
It is hard to fathom that this type of allegation, intended to show some form of racial discrimination, will survive a motion to dismiss. A statement from the Broncos reads as if those sentiments are shared.
“Our interview with Mr. Flores regarding our head coaching position began promptly at the scheduled time of 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 5, 2019, in a Providence, R.I., hotel,” reads a statement from the Broncos in response to the filing of the complaint. “There were five Broncos executives present for the interview, which lasted approximately three-and-a-half hours—the fully allotted time—and concluded shortly before 11 a.m. Pages of detailed notes, analysis and evaluations from our interview demonstrate the depth of our conversation and sincere interest in Mr. Flores as a head coaching candidate. Our process was thorough and fair to determine the most qualified candidate for our head coaching position. The Broncos will vigorously defend the integrity and values of our organization—and its employees—from such baseless and disparaging claims.”
It does appear that there is a genuine flaw with the Rooney Rule and how it is applied; however, this case seems like a stretch and likely will have issues with class certification, since the specific facts do not appear to apply to others similarly situated, even though other coach candidates may have suffered from the type of discrimination alleged by Flores. His best case may be against the Giants if the team had actually decided on Daboll prior to even engaging in an interview with Flores, but even then it may just prove that the Rooney Rule is somewhat worthless as opposed to showing that racial discrimination is to blame for the organization going in a different direction.
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Darren Heitner is the founder of Heitner Legal. He is the author of How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, published by the American Bar Association, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. You can reach him by email at heitner@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @DarrenHeitner.
