Jackson: NFL Front Offices Lack Diversity : Hiring: He points to the Bills’ and Cowboys’ staffs as examples of how minorities are underrepresented.

When the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills won their conference championships to advance to Sunday’s Super Bowl at the Rose Bowl, 56% of the Bills’ players and 75% of the Cowboys’ were minorities.

But it was a different story in their front offices.

According to a study released to The Times on Friday by Jesse Jackson’s National Rainbow Coalition on Fairness in Athletics, only three members of the Bills’ front-office staff of 75 and six of the Cowboys’ staff of 64 were identified as minorities. The Cowboys said they employ 10 minorities.

“Just beyond the playing field it’s not so super,” Jackson said.

Jackson, who has called for a boycott if baseball doesn’t implement an affirmative-action plan by opening day, also called upon the NFL to implement such a plan.

Although Jackson didn’t call for a boycott or picketing at the Super Bowl, he said there might be protests of NFL games next season if the NFL doesn’t begin a minority-hiring program.

“There will be mass action if there aren’t mass results,” Jackson said. “If they don’t change, we have an obligation to take our case to the public. We can’t wait any longer. The teams are old enough and they know better.

“(We’ll use) a combination of litigation, demonstration and legislation,” Jackson said. “All the forms of direct action. And it could be a boycott. It’s not the only weapon in the arsenal, but it’s always the last resort.”

Jackson plans to attend the Super Bowl, where he will meet with NFL officials, owners and players this weekend and has invited NFL officials, owners and players to a meeting in Washington, D.C., next month.

The percentage of minorities in the front offices of the Bills and Cowboys is less than the percentage of minorities who live in Buffalo and Dallas. Only 4% of the Bills’ employees are minorities, whereas Buffalo has a 13.2% minority population.

And although Dallas has minority population of 30.2%, only 15.6% of the Cowboys’ front office are minorities. The Dallas chapter of the NAACP has charged the Cowboys with institutional racism.

Moreover, the Bills’ and Cowboys’ minority employees don’t hold high management positions.

Of the Bills’ three black employees, two are assistant coaches and the other is an assistant trainer.

Bill officials had no comment.

Of the Cowboys’ 10 black employees, two are assistant coaches, two are assistant equipment managers and the others work in the mail room and in sales and promotions, one of them Robert Newhouse, a former Cowboy running back.

Rich Dalrymple, a Cowboy spokesman, said the team had no comment, but he provided a copy of the team’s minority hiring policy.

The Bills and Cowboys aren’t the only teams with disparities between the number of minority players and the front office.

Locally, the Rams have four blacks and six Latinos among their 74 non-playing employees and the Raiders have five African-Americans and three Latinos among their 36 non-playing employees who could be identified.

The Raiders declined to participate in a study of racial hiring practices of L.A. sports organizations conducted by the Amateur Athletic Foundation.

Although 75% of NFL players are minorities, NFL front-office management is 92% white, and 91% of support staff is white, according to a study by the Center for the Study of Sport in Society.

Only three of the 27 NFL head coaches are minorities--Art Shell of the Raiders, Dennis Green of the Minnesota Vikings and Tom Flores of the Seattle Seahawks. Although four NFL head-coaching jobs opened after the season, only one African-American was interviewed.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said that Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has given a high priority to minority hiring since taking office in 1989, having added seven African-Americans to the NFL’s executive staff.

“Are we encouraged?” Aiello asked. “Yes. Are we making progress? Yes. Are we satisfied?No.”

Tagliabue hired Harold Henderson as executive vice president of labor relations. The highest-ranking African-American in NFL history, Henderson played a key role in helping to settle the NFL’s labor dispute.

Other African-Americans appointed by Tagliabue include Lem Burnham as director of player programs, Reggie Roberts as NFC information director, and Leo Miles and Ron DeSouza as officiating supervisors. In addition, Dr. Lawrence Brown serves as an NFL drug adviser and Reggie Williams was hired as director of community affairs for Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Aiello said that NFL teams also have stepped up the hiring of African-American front-office personnel.

The Detroit Lions recently hired Mike Huyghue as vice president of administration/team counsel, Patrick Forte is the New England Patriots’ principal contract negotiator, and Bob Wallace negotiates contracts for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Aiello said Tagliabue was aware of Jackson’s plan to attend Sunday’s Super Bowl and looks forward to meeting with Jackson.

Jackson hopes to meet with Tagliabue next month in Washington.

“At that meeting, we’re going to set up a talent pool,” Jackson said. “They say they can’t find blacks, Hispanics and women. We’ve got blacks, Hispanics and women who want to be (team executives), sportscasters, lawyers and people who are trained in every conceivable area.

“There are qualified (minorities), but they have not reached after them. It’s a policy that has been unchallenged. The focus has been on the players on the field.”

Jackson challenged the media not to ignore the issue of minority hiring in the NFL.

“I think the press has been negligent (in reporting minority hiring practices in the NFL and other pro sports) because most sports departments are lily white. Most major papers can’t take on the lack of (minority) hiring because of their (own) lack of hiring.”

Employed on The Times downtown sports staff of 55 are two African-Americans, four Latinos and one Asian-American.

The Breakdown

A look at the racial makeup of the front offices of the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys:

THE BILLS* Staff: 75

* White: 72 (96%)

* Black: 3 (4%)

* Latino/Asian-American: 0 (0%)

THE COWBOYS* Staff: 64

* White: 54 (84%)

* Minority+: 10 (16%)

+ Breakdown between ethnic groups unspecified

Note: Cowboy figures provided by team. Rainbow Coalition lists team with six minorities but with six members of staff unidentified.

L.A. SITUATION

Study focuses on Southland’s minority hiring practices. C10