Jim Trotter, a former NFL Network reporter, has sued the NFL and the league-owned cable network for racial discrimination, claiming his contract was not renewed this year because he repeatedly spoke in the league’s office about the lack of diversity in professional football, among his trainers and within his media department.
Trotter, now a columnist for The Athletic, a New York Times Company sports website, said in a 53-page complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan that he was fired in retaliation, among other things, for publicly challenging Commissioner Roger Goodell on the league’s commitment to diversity.
“The NFL has maintained that it wants to be held accountable when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion,” Trotter said in a statement. “I tried it and it cost me my job.”
Trotter said he has previously expressed concerns about discrimination in the NFL takes Goodell to task on national television in February 2023. His claims included what he said were racist comments made to him by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. The lawsuit also says NFL Network officials failed to address concerns raised during a staff meeting about reports of racist comments from another team owner, even though Trotter pushed for a discussion.
In August 2020, the lawsuit says, Trotter asked Jones why there weren’t more Black professionals in decision-making positions on NFL teams. “If black people somehow want this, they should buy their own team and hire the people they want to hire,” Jones responded, according to the complaint.
The Cowboys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trotter said he wanted to mention Jones on-air during his coverage of Jon Gruden in 2021 when racist emails from the former Raiders coach came to light because he felt there was a pattern of disdain for diversity. The lawsuit alleges that two of Trotter’s supervisors instructed him not to use Jones’ comment.
“Mr. Trotter repeatedly expressed concerns about the NFL’s record on racial diversity and discrimination, but the NFL did nothing to lawfully investigate or address his concerns – even though offensive behavior was committed by people at the top of the NFL hierarchy.” said the complaint said.
A league spokesperson said in a statement, “We take his concerns seriously, but strongly dispute his specific allegations, particularly those against his dedicated colleagues at NFL Media,” and said their decision not to renew was due to budget constraints.
Despite the disagreement, Trotter, a five-year employee of the NFL Network, had expected to be offered a contract extension in the spring. According to the complaint, Sandra Nunez, a vice president who oversees NFL Network’s on-air talent, told Trotter’s agent last November that she “couldn’t think of any reason why his contract would not be renewed in March 2023” and asked whether he wanted to expand his role.
But in February, just before the Super Bowl, Trotter asked Commissioner Goodell at a news conference about the league’s commitment to diversity and why no Black person had ever been hired as a senior manager in the NFL Network newsroom. The question was similar to one Trotter asked Goodell at last season’s Super Bowl press conference.
The next day, according to Trotter’s complaint, his supervisor asked one of his colleagues, “Why does Jim keep bringing this up?”
Trotter claimed that Nunez asked in early March whether he was “aligned” with the NFL, to which he responded that he was not aligned with a newsroom without “Black representation in decision-making positions.” On March 24, Nunez informed Trotter’s agent that Trotter’s contract would not be renewed.
Trotter is seeking damages to be determined in court and the appointment of a court-ordered monitor to investigate the league’s “policies and practices in hiring, retaining and promoting Black people at all levels of the NFL organization and hierarchy.” .
“The NFL should be ashamed of the racial hostility openly expressed by team owners and the league’s complete inaction after being notified,” Doug Wigdor and David Gottlieb, Trotter’s attorneys, said in a statement.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal challenges alleging racial discrimination in the NFL. In 2019, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick received multimillion-dollar compensation after claiming that NFL teams systematically blacked him for kneeling in protest of police brutality and social injustice while playing the National anthem.
Trotter is represented by the same law firm as Brian Flores, a Black and Hispanic assistant coach with the Minnesota Vikings who is suing the league and several teams for racial discrimination against him when he applied for a head coaching job. A judge ruled in March that Flores’ lawsuit can be heard through the judicial system and does not have to be heard behind closed doors in private arbitration.
The league has tried to increase the hiring of coaches and senior team managers of color for decades, with mixed results. The Rooney Rule, which the league implemented in 2003 under threat of civil lawsuits, requires teams to include nonwhite candidates and women in interviews for open positions. Six of the league’s 32 head coaches are people of color, an increase from four in 2020, but below the record eight in 2018. The percentage of assistant coaches of color reached a record high of 42.9 percent in 2022, two Percentage points more than in 2021.
The number of black team presidents and general managers has also increased. In the last three years, five teams have hired Black presidents, and there are eight Black general managers, representing a quarter of the league’s teams. As recently as 2020, there were only two black managing directors. The first Black president of an NFL team, Jason Wright of the Washington Commanders, was hired in 2020, and Sandra Douglass Morgan, president of the Las Vegas Raiders, became the first Black woman to hold the position in July 2022.
Jenny Vrentas contributed reporting.