Institute salutes WNBA for diversity

NEW YORK – The WNBA still leads the way in sports diversity.

The league received an A-plus Thursday for the second consecutive year in an annual report card on race and gender. The WNBA is the only professional league to have received that grade.

“It’s always great to be able to model the kind of behavior you want to see,” WNBA president Donna Orender said. “We talk about being an organization that wants to lead and create change, and to be rated as high as we are on values we prize is great.”

The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, run by Richard Lapchick at the University of Central Florida, rates pro leagues and college sports programs based on women and minorities who participate.

The study reported a 10 percent increase in the number of black general managers in the WNBA and a slight increase in black head coaches. Women also gained ground, with 10 percent increases in the number of head coaches and team presidents, and a slight increase in the number of GMs.

Lapchick said the WNBA has long led the way in his diversity and gender studies. The league began play in 1997.

“The WNBA remained as the best employer overall for women and people of color in sport,” Lapchick said. “They have set the standard for sport with their combined A-plus grade. Taken with the NBA’s overall A grade, basketball has again swept the table for best practices for hiring from a diverse pool of candidates.”

The study was based on data from teams and the league office. A draft of the report was sent to the WNBA. The league responded with updates and corrections that were included in the final edition.

Orender remains the only female president of a professional sports league.

“It makes sense that the WNBA, as an offshoot of the NBA, is scoring high marks,” said Dave Czesniuk, the director of Northeastern University’s Sport in Society program. “It’s a credit to David Stern’s leadership and making diversity an inherent part of their strategic planning.”