The Racial and Gender Report Card

The Racial and Gender Report Card is the definitive assessment of hiring practices of women and people of color in most of the leading U.S. professional and amateur sports and sporting organizations. The annual report card considers the racial and gender composition of players, coaches, and front office/athletic department employees in professional sports organizations, including the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), and Major League Soccer (MLS), as well as in collegiate athletics departments. 

Grading Scale (Updated 2022)

At the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES), we have has always issued the grades in our Racial and Gender Report Cards in relation to overall patterns in American society. Federal affirmative action policies suggest the workplace should reflect the percentages of various groups in the population. The change in the nation’s demographics has been dramatic with the most recent census making all people of color and minorities closer to 42 percent of the total population.

In recognition of the above change, TIDES has updated its grading scale to better reflect current demographics. To be fair in transition to the organizations and sports we examine in the Racial and Gender Report Cards, we have decided to increase the standards.  The following shows the new scale we are using for race and gender. To get an A+ for race, the category now needs to have 40 percent people of color—and to get an A+ for gender, 46 percent is necessary. TIDES began using this new scale in reports published since 2022.