Politics have latched onto sports like a barnacle.
And executives are sitting back and letting it happen.
Now one sports league just bent the knee to the “woke” mob with an insane move.
The DIE (diversity, inclusivity, and equity) religion has come to the NHL.
One hallmark of the left has been to go from one institution to the next and start bean-counting.
And if there isn’t equal representation among various groups, that is instantly supposed to mean that some sort of nefarious discrimination is afoot.
Now it’s the NHL’s turn to deal with the DIE cult.
The league just released a support claiming that there is not enough diversity in the sport.
The NHL released in a statement:
“The National Hockey League and its 32 teams today released their inaugural Diversity & Inclusion Report, a comprehensive document that both details accelerated efforts by the League and its teams in recent years and includes a groundbreaking demographic study of the NHL workforce at both the League and Club levels. The report is based on seven dimensions that the NHL is following to ‘build (diversity and inclusion) at every point where a player, fan, or employee might interact with the game, taking important steps to lay the foundation for progress,’ according to its executive summary. The dimensions encompass leadership, education, marketing, employment, partnerships, participation and community engagement.”
The idea that every single sports league would have equal representation across races and cultures is laughable.
For example, the top players in the world come from cold climates where hockey culture is prevalent.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said, “During the past few years, the NHL and its 32 Clubs have accelerated efforts to grow our sport, particularly with underrepresented audiences…The information in this report seeks to both detail the work we have done and establish metrics that will enable us to chart our progress. Transparency is essential so that we can hold ourselves accountable and for all stakeholders — including NHL Players, partners, fans and future fans — to understand the breadth and depth of our work to create a safer, more welcoming, more diverse game and business.”
These DIE initiatives effectively serve as payoffs to far-left activists who are not qualified to do anything else.
They rake in huge sums of money to solve problems that don’t exist.
The NHL report also stated:
“Twenty-two teams have launched or are about to launch mentorship/fellowship/hiring programs to develop BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and female talent to work in hockey operations or front office roles.”
It’s almost insulting to suggest that “BIPOC” people are being shut out of hockey, as if they don’t have agency.
Perhaps they’re just choosing sports that they enjoy more.
Kim Davis, NHL’s senior executive vice president of social impact, growth initiatives and legislative affairs, explained, “Intentionality is important…The mentorship and development programs allow us to create a diverse pipeline and provide candidates within our ecosystem the exposure, the access, and the opportunity.”
The NHL's first internal demographic study found its workforce to be overwhelmingly white.
Kim Davis, NHL EVP of social impact, growth and legislative affairs, says seeing the numbers is a first step toward fixing the problem.
by @swhyno https://t.co/ufH2itfiip pic.twitter.com/OziGR3nrR4
— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) October 18, 2022
The NHL made a big mistake by playing the “woke” game.