Michael Jordan’s Victory In Hornets Sale Is Black America’s Loss
Huff Post“Sports franchises are how we knight people in this country.” – Bobby Axelrod, on Showtime’s hit show, “Billions.” Michael Jordan’s decision to sell the Charlotte Hornets isn’t just ending his unsuccessful 13-year run owning and leading one of the NBA’s worst, most depressing teams. Although Black players account for more than 70% of the talent on NBA rosters, with Jordan’s sale of the Hornets, no more Black majority owners are left to call the shots for teams. In fact, a report published by Revelio Labs earlier this year contends that the NFL “has a significant disparity between the diversity of its players and that of its coaching staff — the largest among men’s major leagues — and this has not changed despite a large pool of diverse former players that could meet a demand for coaching talent.” These data points illustrate a power dynamic in which Black sweat is a crucial part of the engine driving multibillion-dollar profits for sports leagues and media networks, while the decision-making largely rests in the hands of a predominantly white leadership structure that includes ownership and extends into the press, the TV network C-suite, player agents, sports advertisers, corporate sponsors and season ticket holders. As one of only two Black Americans to hold majority ownership of a major professional sports franchise — with Jordan’s predecessor, Charlotte Bobcats owner Robert L. Johnson being the other — Jordan established a solid, albeit uninspiring, track record of hiring people of color into prominent, high-profile roles.