Last year, The Guardian wrote an article titled, “The NFL is 70% black, so why is its TV coverage so white?” It denoted the significance of NBC giving an all-Black commentator cast the opportunity to cover the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons game – a move that is rare in a sport where the majority of players are Black.

With the 2020 Super Bowl swiftly approaching and set to take place in Miami, the question of why more Black commentators aren’t reflected on television arises again. As The Guardian states:

“For as much as the NFL has done to become more racially inclusive, much of that progress has come in the locker room rather than on television.  Switch on any game at random and, more than likely, you’ll find at least two white announcers covering a league in which the majority of players are Black.”

According to 2018 statistics, “Of the 251 national and regional NFL broadcasters for the 2018 season, 19% of them were Black.” The trend is continuing even in this year’s upcoming half-time show, a move which has many disappointed in Jay-Z because no Black artists from Miami have been asked to perform.

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The article also points out that Black hosts who do get hired almost have to step-and-fetch to maintain the status quo. For example, Michael Vick was hired as an analyst for Fox after telling Colin Kaepernick the only thing he needed to do to get a job was cut his hair.

Kaepernick’s kneeling controversy show the NFL still has a race problem. Unfortunately it is one on and off the field.