Roger Goodell became the 8th NFL commissioner on September 1, 2006. He has dealt with a variety of major issues, from Spygate, the 2011 Lockout, the Replacement Referee disaster to numerous suspensions for violating the leagues drug policy. Nothing compares to the newest scandal.
Domestic violence seems to be the number one off-field issue for quite sometime now. Since 2000, out of 713 arrests, 85 were from domestic violence.
On September 8th, one of the leagues biggest names Ray Rice was released from the Baltimore Ravens and subsequently suspended indefinitely when footage of a February 2014 incident involving Rice and his then fiance Janay Palmer surfaced. TMZ released a video showing Rice knock Janay out with one punch then drag Janay’s lifeless body out of a casino elevator in Atlantic City. This footage had never been seen in public…. According to the NFL, they had never seen the footage either.
After the Ravens and Goodell viewed the original surveillance video Goodell met with Rice and Janay. A short time later, Goodell announced that Rice would be suspended for the first two games of the season. The Ravens stood by their star running back, praising his character. The Ravens twitter account even posted a blurb saying: “Janay Rice says she deeply regrets the role that she played the night of the incident.”
Ravens coach John Harbaugh stood by his player calling him ” a heck of a guy”. Ravens fans even gave him a standing ovation at practice. The team was united around him. Ray Rice came forward in a press conference emotionally addressing the media, but never once apologizing to his wife for his actions.
Goodell was immediately criticized for his “soft” punishment of Rice. The criticism over the length of the punishment escalated when Browns WR Josh Gordon was suspended a year on August 27 for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. With outrage being expressed online by fans and media, Goodell realized his mistake and implemented a new domestic abuse policy; a six-game unpaid ban for personnel who violate the league’s policy on domestic violence, and a lifetime ban for a second offense.
On Sept 8, TMZ released the never been seen by the public footage of what really went down inside the elevator. The disturbing footage shows Rice knocking Janay Palmer out with a single punch. A stark contrast to the admission from a Ravens player that Rice told teammates initially that he was defending himself from an attacking Janay Palmer.
Social Media exploded in outrage. Former NFL players, actors, fans, current athletes, reporters took to Twitter to voice their opinions on the video:
” Watched Ray Rice Video. As a man I am disgusted. A former NFL player I am ashamed by handling of this by the league. Despicable.” Said former New York Giant, Shaun O’Hara
Former Broncos Defensive tackle Terrence Knighton expressed his outrage,”That man should be thrown out of the nfl and thrown into jail. Shame on those deciding his punishment. Smh.”
Actor Seth Rogan tweeted, “I don’t know much about football, but I know that Ray Rice is a piece of garbage who shouldn’t be allowed to play it professionally anymore.”
It didn’t take long for the Ravens to do damage control, within a few hours of the video being released the Ravens released Rice. The NFL followed suit suspended Rice indefinitely. Now all eyes are on Goodell.
In a statement to TMZ, an NFL spokesman said: “We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator. That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today.”
There is plenty of speculation on social media that it is hard to believe that the NFL did not see the footage inside of the elevator. The NFL’s 2013 revenue was upwards of $9 billion dollars, making it the most lucrative league in the world. The NFL is a powerhouse. Not being allowed access to the whole footage, difficult to believe they couldn’t find a way make it materialize. To add further fuel to the fire, TMZ executive producer Harvey Levin promised that TMZ would produce proof that the NFL was aware of the footage and turned a blind eye.
“The NFL knew that this surveillance video existed,” Levin told WTTG-TV. “They knew that this casino had surveillance video. I know they knew that, and we will explain later why we know they knew that, but they did — and they didn’t do anything to look at this video, I believe.”
Roger Goodell appeared on “CBS This Morning”, a day after suspending Rice indefinitely and once again reiterated that he, nor anyone else in the NFL had seen that video before Monday.
Early this morning, the Associated Press tweeted:” BREAKING: AP Source: Law enforcement official sent copy of Ray Rice tape to NFL executive in April.” Three hours later the AP followed up that revealing tweet with another:” VIDEO: Voicemail confirmed that NFL office had received video showing Ray Rice punching then-fiancee”.
If it turns out that Goodell lied about not having seen the footage before Monday, he needs to be disciplined for his actions. If he had seen the footage previously and only suspended Rice for 2 games, then when the video is released lies and claims they didn’t have knowledge, that would be unethical and intolerable.
How can Goodell come back from this? He violated trust and gave a “free pass” on an obvious heinous act. While fans will not stop watching, I believe that Goodell will be under a microscope, every move observed and scrutinized. Sponsors will question their alliance with the NFL. While, the NFL will recover from the scandal, the short term effects will be felt, no doubt monetarily.
It is all up to him. If he lied, he needs to come forward now and take responsibility. With a confession and remorse he has more of a chance of salvaging what is left of his reputation.
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