CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The nonprofit National Society of Black Sports Professionals announced Thursday that it’s launching official membership for anyone interested in joining, including industry professionals, students and non-industry professionals.
The nonprofit has 17 chapters, with 11 on the way, society president Bruce Wimbish said at the Cleveland Power of Sport Summit at Progressive Field. Wimbish said the group wants to help professionals in areas like recruitment, retention, development and advancement.
“It’s really important that we do what Bruce said, which is to position BSP as a pipeline for Black professionals to get into roles that are meaningful at every level throughout sports and sports agencies, brands, television stations that are supporting the industry,” BSP senior vice president Kevin Griffin said.
With the NFL Draft in town, the Browns teamed up with Cleveland organizations and experts from across the country to address societal issues, from school attendance to the LGBTQ community in sports, at the Power of Sport Summit.
The organization is working to eliminate barriers for Black professional development and advancement in the sports industry.
Vice President Nicole Britenriker said Black professionals have different experiences compared to non-Black professionals in the industry.
“A lot of those things we hear are we don’t have talent, we can’t find talent,” Britenriker said. “We don’t know where Black people are and/or you’re not fit, they’re not ready.”
The group has an eye on creating scholarships to support young people who want to complete internships that may not be financially feasible because they’re either unpaid or underpaid.
At the panel, representatives from Minorities in Sports Business, Color of Sports, the NFL and the Browns among other groups spoke. Here is a rundown of the other discussions.
Minorities in Sports Business and Color of Sports
Shaina Wiel, the founder of Minorities in Sports Business, said the company is working on the Diverse Sports Executive Pipeline program, meant to help people in mid-management develop for the executive level.
The program will span three months and consist of a series of workshops. Participants will be paired with a mentor and will have the opportunity to talk with an executive recruiter, Wiel said. The program will launch over the summer and applications will open in two weeks.
“The goal is at the end of the program you will be ready to be an executive,” Wiel said. “As Kevin was saying earlier we will not have that excuse anymore as ‘you’re not ready.’ I think a lot of us have heard that in our careers when we’ve asked for promotions.”
Wiel said the program is designed for participants to show hiring managers the skills they learned and show what they are capable of.
In addition to Wiel’s announcement, Quashan Lockett, founder of Color of Sports, said his business has launched the Black Experience in Sports initiative.
Lockett said it’s meant to be a comprehensive research initiative across the sports industry, aiming to tell unheard stories of Black people throughout the industry. A survey will go out to Black professionals to participate, and that will be phased through focus groups and one-to-one interviews in focusing on what professionals experience in the industry, Lockett said.
“If you do not identify as Black or African-American in the sports industry, if you’re an ally, we want you to sign up because you have a very important role to play as we start to think about how do we create change,” Lockett said. “So we’re looking for those change makers, people who have power and influence within their organizations who maybe are not Black or African-American in the industry, we want you to sign up as well because we’re going to be rolling out some initiatives and some action items for people who do not identify as Black professionals as well.”
BSP Cleveland and the Marcus Graham Project
The Browns are partnering with Black Sports Professionals Cleveland to host a Marcus Graham Project workshop in Cleveland, said Bridgette Givand, the Browns community relations coordinator.
The Marcus Graham Project strives to provide diverse people in marketing and media with exposure and experience in building a solid career.
Givand participated in the Marcus Graham Project workshop in 2018 through the Cavaliers. Coming out of college, Givand was looking to see what was next, and the workshop helped her gain confidence.
“One of my biggest takeaways was that I felt so inspired that I saw at the Cleveland Cavaliers, those in leadership positions that looked like me,” Givand said. “So at the end of the workshop, I said ‘yeah, I can do this.’”
Jonathan Beane and the NFL
Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, spoke about the improvements the NFL knows it must make in diversity and inclusion.
For one, the NFL doesn’t have many coaches of color. That is significant, especially considering 75% of the league’s players are people of color and 70% are Black. NFL front offices aren’t very diverse, either. The league only has two owners of color, and the league has no owners who are Black, Beane said.
“We know that we’re not where want to be in terms of head coaches,” Beane said. “We’re not where we want to be with general managers. It’s great we have Andrew Berry here (in Cleveland), but we need to have more diversity there. And then when you look at the larger coaching staff, when you look at the office positions, when you look at the league positions, we’re not where we need to be. We don’t represent our fanbase and that’s our goal.”
Beane said he thinks more diversity will come in ownership, and he added that a collective of people typically own a team. He said if communities and people use their collective power, more improvement could be seen.
Beane encouraged people in the sports industry and those who want to be in it to believe in their dreams and realize they can be accomplished.
“Now more than ever with the environment we’re in and the efforts that our industry is making, someone who is diverse has the opportunity to get roles and have access that they never had before,” Beane said. “Go for it, don’t let anybody tell you that you don’t have the skill for it or that it’s a dream that you can’t obtain.”
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