The coach of Honduran origin born in New York, Brian Flores, went to federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday to file a class action lawsuit against the NFL and the Miami Dolphins, Denver Broncos and San Francisco Giants teams for racial discrimination.
The document presented to the court has 58 pages and among its main reason for the lawsuit it comments that the NFL has been racist in discriminating against Flores and other black coaches by denying them coaching jobs, defensive or offensive coordinators, quarterback coaches and the chance to manage a club.
“By making the decision to file the class action lawsuit today, I understand that I may be running the risk of not coaching the game that I love and that has done so much for my family and me. My sincere hope is that by standing against systemic racism in the NFL, others will join me in ensuring positive change occurs for generations to come,” Flores said in a statement with his team of attorneys.
Furthermore, he assured that although his goal and his talent always he will use it to train in football´, “the need for a change is bigger than my personal goals“.
In addition to his request, Flores also spoke of a conversation with the owner of the Dolphins, Stephen Ross, in which the businessman allegedly sought to encourage him in 100 with $ 100,000 dollars in prizes for each game lost that campaign.
The main reason for this rigging would have been to get Florida into a prime position in the following year’s draft.
At the end of the season of 2019, where Miami won five of his last nine games, general manager Chris Grier told him that Ross would have sued him because the wins “compromised Miami’s position in the draft.”
Regarding the lawsuits against San Francisco and Denver, after being fired a couple of weeks ago from Miami, the coach was interviewed by both franchises and is now alleging that he suffered racial discrimination in both processes.
The document also specifies that in the 32 franchises there is no African-American owner and also noted that while the 70 % of the players in the league are black in the NFL and their owners earn thousands of dollars.
“Its 32 owners, none of whom are black, benefit substantially of the work of NFL players, 70% of which are black. Owners watch games from the top of NFL stadiums in their luxury boxes, while their largely black workforce puts their bodies on the line every Sunday, taking brutal hits and sustaining debilitating injuries to their bodies and brains. , while the NFL and its owners reap billions of dollars”, Flores concluded.