Brandt: Racial Issues the Same; Has NFL’s Attitude Changed?

We've seen PR statements, mea culpas and solidarity. But has this offseason really been a tipping point for the NFL?

GREEN BAY, Wis. – As the former vice president of player finance for the Green Bay Packers, SI.com’s Business of Football columnist, Andrew Brandt, had a unique view on race and sports.

“Fridays were haircut days for players and staff,” Brandt wrote in his latest column. “I hired two barbers: one to cut the black guys’ hair — he would travel two hours from Milwaukee — and one to cut the white guys’ hair. One Friday, our barber from Milwaukee failed to show up, and our line of our guys waiting to see him started heading off in disappointment. Seeing this, our other barber said to me, in front of everyone, ‘You know, I can cut colored peoples’ hair.’ The guys shot her a look; I took her aside and said she could not say that. She replied: ‘That is what we always say; they don’t like that word?’ She was ignorant; she simply did not know.”

The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis has set off a couple weeks of protests and touched off intense conversations about the state of race in America.

“Managing the Packers, we were the least diverse city in the NFL by far,” Brandt said in the accompanying video. “I was asked by players and agents all the time, ‘Hey, Andrew, do you have black people up there besides the players on the team?’ And I’d be honest, I’d say no. So, we were dealing with a very nondiverse area, homogenous and completely white. So, we had to manage it and make sure everyone felt comfortable in the environment they were living in. I think this is the challenge for everyone now because there are a lot of diverse views in that locker room; they’re not all the same. We saw that with the protests. Some players did want to stand at attention, salute the flag. To other players, it was ridiculous. So, we’ll see how NFL overall manages this, especially Commissioner Goodell and then, more specifically, the teams. It’s not going to be easy. Everyone’s got to have professionalism, tact, and patience as we get through this.”

For more from Brandt, including Brandt’s childhood in Washington, D.C., Colin Kaepernick and what baseball’s negotiations could mean for the NFL, CLICK HERE.