Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Diversity Report

10/18/2022 at 5:04pm EDT

NEW YORK (Oct. 18, 2022) – The National Hockey League (NHL) and its 32 Clubs released a comprehensive report, ‘Accelerating Diversity & Inclusion: NHL Report on Strategies, Initiatives and Progress,’ highlighting intentional efforts to promote positive social change within the sport.

The comprehensive report, which was presented to the Board of Governors earlier today, is a first of its kind for the League. It provides an overview of the work accomplished over the past two years at the League-level, as well as progress by all 32 Clubs at the local level. The various efforts driven by Clubs include mentorship and scholarship programs; investments in community initiatives that foster greater access to sport; and partnerships with local BIPOC organizations and businesses. The report provides qualitative and quantitative data, setting a benchmark for continued growth.

“During the past few years, the NHL and its 32 Clubs have accelerated efforts to grow our sport, particularly with underrepresented audiences,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “The information in this report seeks to both detail the work we have done and establish metrics that will enable us to chart our progress. Transparency is essential so that we can hold ourselves accountable and for all stakeholders – including NHL Players, partners, fans and future fans -- to understand the breadth and depth of our work to create a safer, more welcoming, more diverse game and business.”

For the first time, the League completed a detailed workforce demographic study, which is published in the report. The study includes data collected via an anonymous survey of League and Club employees, allowing every individual to self-identify across dimensions of racial demographics, gender identity, and sexual orientation. This approach to data collection is part of a growing culture of accountability, transparency, and commitment to meaningful progress across the League.

“The greatness of the NHL is a result of the passion and skill of its employees across all disciplines, and we are excited to now have a comprehensive understanding of how our employees view themselves,” said Kim Davis, NHL SEVP of Social Impact, Growth Initiatives and Legislative Affairs. “From here, we will continue to add diverse talent that brings with them the competencies and creativity this sport needs for future growth.”

The report highlights the League’s efforts organized using a ‘7 Dimensions’ framework: leadership, education, employment, marketing, partnerships, participation, and community engagement. It focuses on several areas of progress including combatting racism and discrimination through education and accountability; attracting new talent and empowering game-changers; diversifying the youth hockey ecosystem; and elevating community engagement activity to support underrepresented groups in the game.

The full report is available online at NHL.com/DiversityReport.

Paul

from Donnovan Bennett of Sportsnet,

On the eve of the reports public release, I spoke with Kim Davis, the NHLs executive vice president of social impact, growth initiatives & legislative affairs, to better understand why the league conducted the study, what the findings signal and how the NHL hopes to apply what its learned to create positive change.

SPORTSNET: At the beginning of the season, I don't think hockey fans or media are expecting an exhaustive report on diversity within the league and the game. But that's what we have. Why did you do it?

KIM DAVIS: We did it because it's the right thing to do given the fact that we know our sports future growth is going to be dependent on our attracting and retaining these growing demographics that are represented across Canada and, frankly, across all of North America. And so, it was important for us over the past couple of years to get very intentional about how we are conducting our outreach, across all dimensions, to these diverse audiences. And this is really the stake in the ground so that we can be transparent and accountable to that work over the coming years.

Now that you have the data, what do you hope to do with it?

We are going to hold ourselves accountable to doing this kind of comprehensive report every two years, so that we can start with the stake in the ground, and then measure our impact, our change, the areas that we need to accelerate over time. We will use this as the way to measure and hold ourselves to account.

Are there specific benchmarks youve set that determine what success looks like?

We are focused particularly in the area of marketing to new audiences. This work came out of the Fan Inclusion Committee that has been in existence now for the past two years.

Their goal is to grow our BIPOC fanbase by 25 per cent. And so, we are going to be looking at that as an important benchmark. In addition to that, in every one of those seven dimensions that we outline, we want to see improvement. We haven't said to the clubs, You have to hit a certain number, but our goal is, we should see 100 per cent participation, particularly in areas of training and education and leadership, because those are foundational to all of the other aspects of growth. Weve got the support of the owners and the Board of Governors in this work, and that's really what leadership is about.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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