The class-action lawsuit from former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores against the NFL and its 32 teams (specifically naming the Dolphins, Giants, and Broncos, but also including each other team) sent shockwaves through the NFL and the sports media world Tuesday. Now, Flores is set to discuss it on CBS’ broadcast morning show CBS Mornings (with Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil, and Nate Burleson, from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern) Wednesday. Flores did already put out a statement on this, but this will be his first interview since filing the lawsuit:
EXCLUSIVE: Brian Flores, the former coach of the Miami Dolphins, will be joining us live in studio tomorrow morning, only on #CBSMornings, with his attorneys Doug Wigdor and John Elefterakis to talk about his race discrimination lawsuit against the NFL.
Tune in at 7 a.m. pic.twitter.com/VsYr8PCi2G
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) February 1, 2022
That lawsuit lays out quite a few notable allegations against the NFL and its teams, including texts from Bill Belichick to Flores that were intended for Brian Daboll and telling him he got the Giants’ job (a day before his second interview and three days before Flores’ interview with that team), claims about Dolphins’ owner Stephen Ross offering him $100,000 per game in 2019 to lose in the “Tank for Tua” days, claims about Broncos’ executives showing up to his interview in 2019 looking “completely disheveled” and being an hour late, and more. (The Dolphins and Broncos have added their own denial statements here, for what that’s worth.) So there’s a lot for the CBS Mornings crew to potentially ask Flores (seen at top after a Dec. 19 game) about.
In some ways, the morning show appearance here speaks to the timing of Flores’ lawsuit being perfect for the pre-Super Bowl media cycle. This is absolutely a pair of weeks where general media (rather than just sports media) are looking for angles to cover the NFL. And it’s notable that NBC, which will actually be televising that Super Bowl, also has a football segment on their morning Today show Wednesday. However, that’s revealing the new Washington Football Team name, and a helicopter video from the local NBC affiliate already appears to have spoiled that (if Joe Theismann’s spoiling wasn’t enough). So the CBS morning show NFL content Wednesday seems a little bigger.
The other notable thing with this timing is that this seems to indicate that Flores has given up on NFL head coaching jobs, at least for the moment. It’s awfully hard to see a NFL team hiring someone who’s currently suing not only the league, but their team. (And Flores wasn’t out of job options; he reportedly spent Tuesday interviewing with the Saints.) But this is well-timed for getting the most possible attention, and if Flores doesn’t think he’s actually getting a head coaching job this cycle, that’s a reasonable move for him to make. It definitely will be interesting to see how this lawsuit progresses, and to see what Flores has to say on CBS Mornings Wednesday.
[CBS Mornings on Twitter]
