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Brian Flores has ruffled a lot of feathers in the NFL over the past couple of days, none more so than those of Stephen Ross, the owner of the Miami Dolphins. Among the many allegations he has laid against the NFL, Brian Flores has alleged that Stephen Ross asked him to deliberately lose games so that they would have a higher draft position. It was also reported that $100,000 was offered to lose a game, and a witness can corroborrate this allegation.
Is NFL Network and its official website protecting Stephen Ross against Brian Flores?
The NFL's official website initially carried this story about a potential witness who could independently confirm that Stephen Ross had offered his coach bonuses for losing. But now, when one goes to the link, there is nothing on that page. One can read it in the archive below.
That, in itself, is not surprising since the NFL's communication channels are owned by its constituent teams, who, in turn, are answerable to their owners. So, for a news report on the network to publish the story in the first place, in and of itself, was surprising.
But publishing it, only to remove it, raises more questions. Does that mean that the NFL's communications network has independently confirmed the allegations? Has it already contacted the witness? And if so, does it not have the remit or the authority to report it to the league so that disciplinary action can be taken if the allegations hold true?
The mysterious disappearance of the post suggests that this is something the league is trying to hide. If the NFL's official website is, indeed, there to bring the latest official NFL news to the world, then it must cover this story. It points to a lack of editorial independence and, therefore, raises questions about whether official stories that might paint the league or one of its teams in a negative light are routinely pulled down.
Brian Flores' lawsuit makes serious allegations about how the league has a discriminatory stance towards black head coaches. Based on the current head coaching situation alone, one cannot help but reach a similar conclusion, as the NFL commissioner himself seems to have done.
Addressing it would require the highest levels of transparency to repair the alleged breach of trust that black head coaches have experienced from the league. Pulling a story from its official network hardly inspires confidence.
