NPR 3 Stories: Calif. College Sports Bill, Sports Illustrated Layoffs, Single Shot Free Throws
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the "Fair Pay to Play Act" on LeBron James's TV show, "The Shop." Professor Kenneth Shropshire, CEO of the Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University, discusses some of the misconceptions about the bill, and what Newsom's decision to sign it on an athlete's platform says about player empowerment.
NFL Fumbles In Latest Diversity Hiring Grades
In its 2019 Racial and Gender Report Card, the NFL received an overall score of 79.3% - its lowest mark in 15 years.
It also received C+ and B marks in its gender and racial hiring practices, respectively.
As the CEO of Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University, Kenneth Shropshire has seen the likes of African-Americans Randall Cunningham and Michael Vick become quarterbacks in the NFL. He also noted the creation of The Rooney Rule, which requires NFL teams to interview minorities for head coaching and senior football operations jobs.
But despite the decline in many of its metrics in the report card this year, Shropshire remains confident that over time, the league will continue to improve in this area across the board.
“We can be optimistic that a better day will come and that there won’t be a lack of decisions to bring in people of color,” Shropshire said.
While the NFL is still struggling to display holistic diversity in the workplace, it is making progress with its gender hires. For 2019, the league earned a 76% for its gender score – a 2% bump year-over-year. It also saw gender diversity rise in the league office, up +1.8% year-over-year, and in team vice president positions, up 2.5% from last year.
Female Athletes Receive Only 4% of Sports Media Coverage—Adidas Wants to Change That
"To give female athletes more leverage—and to give girls in sports more role models—a woman-led team at Adidas launched a global initiative called She Breaks Barriers. The campaign aims to provide better access to sports for women and girls, remove gender stereotypes, and create greater visibility for female athletes at all levels.
Step one: Create real, tangible change—not just #empowering ads. In January, Adidas hosted a workshop at the Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University to pinpoint barriers preventing women from getting into sports and brainstorm how to overcome them. In March the brand hosted town halls in New York and Los Angeles to address a lack of mentoring and safe transportation for girls in sports. They’ve also partnered with Girls on the Run to provide gear and sponsor 5K runs; with Starlings Volleyball to sponsor to summer volleyball camps; and with Jen Welter (the first female coach in the NFL) to create the first women’s football cleats."