NFL owners delay decision on rewards for minority hires

May 20 (UPI) -- The NFL has announced new policies designed to give minorities and women more opportunities, but owners delayed voting on a proposal that would reward teams for minority hires.

The league announced the "new steps to enhance diversity" on Tuesday after a meeting with team owners.

"We table [delay] resolutions frequently because the discussion leads to ideas that could make it more effective," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told NFL Network.

The proposal includes enhancing a team's picks in the NFL Draft if they hire a minority candidate as a head coach or primary football executive. Goodell said there's "very positive reaction" to the resolution from owners, who met Tuesday in a virtual meeting.

Enacting a resolution requires approval from at least 24 of the 32 NFL teams.

The league has made several changes to its "Rooney Rule," which previously required every team with a vacancy at head coach or general manager to interview at least one minority candidate. More than 20 franchises have hired minority head coaches in the Rooney Rule era, but the NFL's three current black head coaches are the fewest the NFL has had since the rule began in 2003.

"The NFL is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, which I believe is critical to our continued success," Goodell said. "While we have seen positive strides in our coaching ranks over the years aided by the Rooney Rule, we recognize, after the last two seasons, that we can and must do more."

Teams will now be required to interview at least two candidates not employed by the organization for any vacant head coach job. They're also required to interview at least one minority candidate from outside the organization for offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator or special teams coach. The Rooney Rule previously did not require teams to interview minority candidates for assistant coaching jobs.

The rule was also expanded to apply to more executive positions. Teams and the NFL are now required to interview minorities and/or female candidates for positions like team president and senior executive roles in communications, finance, football operations, human resources, legal, sales, marketing, sponsorship, information technology and security.

The league also adjusted its anti-tampering policy, which previously allowed teams to deny assistant coaches and executives opportunities to interview for jobs with other teams while under contract.

Additionally, each NFL team will establish a coaching fellowship program that allow for full-time fellowship positions for one to two years and provide hands-on training for NFL legends and minority and female participants.

"We believe these new policies demonstrate the NFL owners' commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in the NFL," said Art Rooney II, Pittsburgh Steelers owner and chairman of the league's workplace diversity committee. "The development of young coaches and young executives is a key to our future.

"These steps will assure coaching and football personnel are afforded a fair and equitable opportunity to advance throughout our football operations. We also have taken important steps to ensure that our front offices, which represent our clubs in so many different ways, come to reflect the true diversity of our fans and our country."