The Court of Appeal is suitable for the NFL

The National Football League can be tried on civil allegations that Brian Flores and other black coaches face discrimination, a federal court of appeal ruled Thursday, rejecting the league attempt to force the flora to arbitration with Commissioner Roger Goodell as a referee.

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals de l’US in Manhattan has confirmed the decision of judge Valerie Caproni according to which Flores can make complaints against the League and three teams: the Broncos de Denver, the Giants of New York and the Texans of Houston.

In a decision written by circuit judge Jose A. Cabranes, the Court of Appeal said that the rules of arbitration of the NFL forcing Flores to submit its complaints to arbitration before Goodell has the protection of the law on federal arbitration because it “provides arbitration in name only”.

The 2nd circuit said that the arbitration provision for the NFL constitution “does not contractually provide for an independent arbitral forum, no settlement of bilateral disputes and no procedure”.

“Instead, he offends the basic presumptions of our arbitration jurisprudence” by forcing the allegations to be decided by the “Executive Director” of the NFL, said the court of appeal.

NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said: “We are respectfully in disagreement with the panel’s decision and will request a more in-depth exam.”

Douglas H. Wigdor and David E. Gottlieb, lawyers representing Flores, said in a press release that the NFL relied on a biased and unfair arbitration process for too long.

“This decision sends a clear message: this practice must end,” they said.

In February 2022, Flores continued the League and several teams, saying that the League was “prey to its racism”, in particular in its hiring and its promotion of black coaches.

Later, two other coaches joined the trial, which aims to continue as a collective recourse, although Caproni judged that their complaints could go to arbitration according to the language of the contracts they signed with teams.

After submitting his trial, Flores said he thought he was risking the coach career he loves by pursuing the NFL, but noted that it was worth the generations to come if he could succeed in questioning systemic racism in the League.

Flores is currently a defensive coordinator of the Vikings of Minnesota after having worked before as a coating of the New England Patriots from 2008 to 2018, the Dolphins of Miami from 2019 to 2021 and the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022. He joined the Vikings in 2023.

Caproni declared in a decision of March 2023 that the descriptions of the coaches of their experiences of racial discrimination in a league with a “long history of systematic discrimination against players, coaches and black managers are incredibly disturbing”.

“Although the clear majority of professional football players is black, only a small percentage of coaches is black,” she said.