Workplace Culture in Major Sports

Welcome again to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts examine three organizations across three different sports all overtaken by scandal in recent weeks. We start with the Chicago Blackhawks, where an investigation into sexual assault allegations dating back to 2010 found that coaches and management chose not to address the matter until season’s end so as not to be a “distraction.” ESPN published a bombshell exposé on Phoenix Suns’ owner Robert Sarver, detailing a work environment enveloped by racist and sexist behavior perpetrated by Sarver. Finally, we weigh in on the Washington Football Team, and how a proven toxic workplace culture of sexual harassment, bullying and intimidation has here to this point yielded merely an insignificant fine and protection from accountability by Roger Goodell. We assess and compare how each league has or has not addressed these respective scandals and what to expect moving forward. But first we rant, as a Collective, on this week’s first release of the College Football Playoff rankings. Your hosts return a unanimous decision opposing undefeated Cincinnati’s exclusion from the top four slots, and cry foul on a committee made up of power-five kingmakers protecting their own in the face of competitive integrity.