Peyton
Manning is the National Football League. He is the face, heart, mind,
and soul of America’s national pastime, I’d submit, our
national religion. Manning is the “preferred” face of the
NFL, and you’d better believe it. In the sport’s world,
he’s sanctified. Across America, the Manning name is “all
American” gridiron gladiator royalty… aerial aristocracy
if you will. Peyton possesses a pigskin pedigree that personifies
excellence through preparation, precision, and determination -
combined with class.
At
this moment, Manning’s name is now being injected into the
sports bar and boardroom conversation about “who” will
buy one of the NFL’s flagship organizations, the Denver
Broncos. The
premier franchise, today without a head coach, will be on the auction
table sometime this year after all the soap opera drama ceases. His
inclusion is a game-changer.
Manning
instantly leaps to the forefront of the speculative conversation for
obvious reasons, ranging from his royal
football
family to his down-to-earth folksy personality, his charisma, and his
small personal fortune. Additionally, the co-investors Peyton could
easily muster with a phone call - if he so desired - would be not
impressive but phenomenal. Manning could construct an elite and
notable investor group. Who wouldn’t want to partner with a
living icon to join the elite NFL ownership country club?
If
this is the case, I’d like to suggest to Peyton: do
the right thing, change
the direction and course of the Denver franchise, as well as the NFL
by partnering with Black investors. Arguably still the poster boy of
the league, Manning could create a 50/50 partnership, dragging the
elitist
NFL
ownership roundtable into the 21st century.
Why
not right here and right now?
At
some point in the story of the National Football League, the ebony
gladiators who are the on-field product and labor force must be
allowed
to
own at least some of a franchise. There must be a first step on the
path to fairness
and
inclusion
in
the boardroom. White men can’t pimp, exploit and maximize the
blood, sweat, and tears of Black gladiators for what is now 80 plus
years.
Push
has come to shove.
Manning
could either join or construct an investor group that is diverse and
more reflective of the NFL and America in 2022 as opposed to 1957.
One which might include music icon Jay-Zee, Black Billionaire Robert
Smith, the wealthiest Black man in America, who was born n’
raised in Denver’s Park Hill. Micheal Jordan, Oprah…
There
is today, at last, a list of qualified (rich) Blacks for Peyton to
ponder.
And
if Manning is searching for a local connection, investors with a
foothold and presence in Denver, across the state and throughout the
Rocky Mountain empire, Dave
Logan’s name
will rightfully pop-up, and in the next breath should be
Charles
Johnson -
the former CU Buff Signal Caller who led CU back to relevance and the
Orange Bowl, with a foot in local business, community, and media.
I
believe Manning’s, as well as the NFL league prior partnering
with Papa
Johns’s John
Schnatter, the somewhat openly bigoted pizza magnate, was a tactical
blunder which both parties regret, and this next public move should
reflect a more “enlightened” Manning and NFL owners. Both
parties have an opportunity to actually to transport their stone-age
operation into the civilized 21st century.
And
need I remind any sports fans that John Elway and Donald Trump are
friends… #7 went to #666, oh sorry #45’s Presidential
anointment. We know “who” Elway stands and sides with. At
least with Peyton at the helm, there exists a snowball’s chance
in hell that he’ll actually invite or share
power
with Black folks.
Perhaps
Teddy Bridgwater’s stability will usher in more than winning
again, after the bad taste left in many folk’s mouths after the
league handled Vance Joseph with the same dismissive and
condescending manner they handle most Black coaches. Unquestionably,
in the eyes of league ownership, Black folks have an assigned place
where they’d like to keep us. They’ve conceded they can’t
stop the rise of Black Quarterback, regardless of how much the good
old boy base desires to. Even so, they’re holding the red-line
of discrimination in the coaching ranks and just pretty much refusing
to allow Blacks in as owners.
Let
me circle the block and hammer that point home: the NFL roundtable
has regrettably conceded they can’t stop the rise of “the
Black Quarterback,” regardless of how much the good old boy fan
base and corporate sponsors yearn to. They’re holding the
red-line of discrimination in the coaching ranks, while just pretty
much refusing to allow Blacks in as owners.
Elway
clearly has a seat at the Trump country club bar, however Peyton, and
perhaps Archie, and Eli would have a more enlightened and inclusive
vision for the organization. The team might be as open-minded and
progressive as the front-range metropolis it represents in the
Sportsworld.
Within
the Sportsworld, which reflects and embodies the fragmented and
highly flammable real world, Denver presents an opportunity for folks
of color, and White folks to smoke the peace pipe, break bread and do
business together.
Look,
the Rocky Mountain franchise can remain the “plaything”
of another wealthy fatcat, billionaire owner, and his stable of
millionaire gladiators - both getting filthy rich in their antiquated
institution,
or…, it can be an example of a 21st-century business
organization.
I’m
hoping Manning is a different kind of NFL owner... and does the
enlightened thing.
