THE UNEQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR EQUAL ABILITY HYPOTHESIS - RACISM IN THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

This paper examines race equality within the labor market of professio nal football, specifically addressing the issue of whether NFL team ma nagement discriminates against marginal nonwhite players. To examine t his, we compared the racial proportions of ''protected'' players to pr oportions of players designated as ''Plan B'' free agents. We consider ed Plan B players as ''marginals'' from management's viewpoint. Our hy pothesis that these athletes would be disproportionately white was con firmed. Reasons for the statistically significant differences in the r acial proportions are discussed.