THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Flores saga reveals major NFL dilemmas

To borrow an old country phrase …

Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL has put a fox in the henhouse.

You probably know the gist of this uproar by now — Flores claims racial discrimination over his firing by the Miami Dolphins, and generally by the league for having just one African-American coach (Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin) among its 32 teams.

It's probably not be a coincidence that Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy was interviewed Sunday by the New Orleans Saints for their head coaching vacancy — since NFL goombah Roger Goodell has publicly admitted the league’s progress in promoting minorities is “unacceptable.”

We know all that, and things almost certainly could begin to change, as long as the league’s all-white owners are willing to join the 21st century.

There is another part of Flores’ suit, however, that might affect millions of people — and has certainly made the NFL seriously nervous.

FLORES claims that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him money to lose games in a bid to get a first- or second-round draft choice.

Former Cleveland coach Hue Jackson, also an African-American who was fired, has backed up Flores claim — to a degree — by stating that the Browns told him that they had a four-year plan that involved a lot of losing in his first two seasons.

It's not a joke, because in some cases, losing can be profitable.

Jacksonville managed to be bad enough that it landed Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

Even in baseball, one of the battles being fought in the current labor negotiations also involves “tanking” — or intentionally losing to build a team with high draft choices.

The Orioles and Pirates, among others, have been hit with that accusation, and Houston built a World Series team by being so awful over three or four years that it acquired future all-stars in the amateur draft.

This tanking claim in the NFL is monstrous, though, simply because the integrity of league is at stake.

Not to mention a boatload of money.

The league has partnered with some gambling operations, and expects to make about $1 billion from it within this decade.

But hey …

That’s chump change compared to the roughly $20 BILLION bet legally on football games in the U.S. during 2021.

That number will only go up as more states legalize sports betting, and we’re not even counting money wagered on technically illegal off-shore betting services.

Bottom line, the amounts are staggering.

GIVEN the gambling cash at risk for every game in every sport, each league (especially the NFL, which is the biggest dog, by far) must be certain that its contests are being conducted cleanly.

The NFL has insisted that teams make their midweek injury reports public, and has done so for years — not to aid the next weeks opponent, but to avoid gamblers trying to find unfair advantages.

For the record, I don’t believe coaches or players take the field with any goal except to win.

Oh, there have been rare cases of players trying to throw games for money, but there is so much scrutiny and security around major sports now, that sort of thing has just about disappeared.

However …

At the ownership level, in Miami, Cleveland and elsewhere, I can easily picture notions of having a couple of crappy years in order to grab high draft choices.

I can also believe — quite easily — that coaches like Flores, Jackson, and many more have heard that mission statement filter down from the top.

Maybe Ross was joking when he offered Flores $100,000 for each loss, but I’m guessing he was making a very dark plan crystal clear.

Why else would you fire a coach who took your downtrodden team and promptly won 10 games — then followed it with a 9-8 record last year?

The league has a mess on its hands, and Goodell knows it.

If bettors start to doubt that games are being played all-out on both sides …

Nightmare.

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which is published weekly during the season. Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”