Roger Goodell's Actions Taken

Roger Goodell's installation in the NFL in 2007 was supposed to bring a fresh face and new perspective to the scene of player safety. He has reprimanded 8 players a total of 9 times in his career. His consistency in these punishments has been questioned over the last few years, because certain players who have commited "more haneous" crimes have recieved lighter punishments than players with "lesser" offenses.

Roger Goodell has been criticized for these inconsistencies, and his motives have gone under scrutiny. I advocate that the basis for some of these punishments are in the interest of money and possible revenue (or lack thereof) in response to player suspensions. For example a lesser known player Adam Jones was suspended for four games for scuffling with his body guard, while a famous player Ndamukong Suh was suspended for a mere 2 weeks after stomping on a player's bare arm with his cleats, with a heavy record of anger disputes on the field. This is an example of the NFL deciding to punish a player who brings many ticket sales much less severely than a player who is grossly less significant compared to Ndamukong Suh. The Detroit Lions would have surely seen a drop in revenue for any game that Suh was absent so the NFL decided to minimize that.

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The NFL also infamously handled the fiasco with Ray Rice. To provide context, Ray Rice was suspected for knocking his fiancee unconscious in an elevator in a fit of rage. She denied it, and so did he. The NFL decided to lightly slap Ray's wrists for this "minimal offense." Months later footage emerged that showed evidence of a blatant attack from Rice to his fiancee. The NFL decided then to worsen its repercussions on Rice to an expulsion from the league, which was arguably the most appropriate response. There is nothing wrong with worsening a punishment when more unprecedented evidence comes out. However, it was discovered that the NFL was in possession of the elevator tape months before it emerged, and at the time they issued their light punishment on Rice. The NFL elected to roll the dice and gamble that the tape will never emerge, so they can keep Rice in the league generating revenue for Baltimore and then consequently the NFL organization as a whole.

In my next post I will explore why Roger Goodell approved the referee lockout in 2012.