Brian Rowe

Tackling CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility and

The National Football League

Abstract: The sports industry is one of the most powerful, influential, and richest industries in

the world today and the National Football League (NFL) are one of the leading organizations

within the industry. However with billions of eyes on them year-round the NFL has come under

scrutiny in the past few years due to their handling of domestic violence issues, lack of

concussion prevention attempts, and their players off the field conduct. Certain events have led

to the NFL having a very poor public image recently. Accordingly the NFL owes it to its fans,

as well as its employees, to attempt to redeem themselves from prior poor decisions. It could be

said that the NFL’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program is forced to form an entirely

new plan of attack in an attempt to prove to the public that it cares about more than television

ratings and dollar signs.

What is Corporate Social Responsibility?

It is important to first have a general understanding of what CSR is, and more particularly

how it is going to be applied within the NFL. Garriga and Mele classified CSR into four groups;

‘instrumental’- meaning the corporation will do whatever it has to in order to maximize profits-;

‘political’- which is the extent to which a corporation is going to use its power to influence the

political arena-; ‘integrative’- where a corporation focuses on society’s demands-; and finally

‘ethical’ issues where a corporation will focus on ethical responsibilities towards society as a

whole.1 This four-prong CSR definition fits the problems that the NFL is facing because their 1 ELISABET GARRIGA & DOME`NEC MELE, CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THEORIES: MAPPING THE TERRITORY (KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS 2004).

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attitude is beginning to change. While they may have once been more focused on using CSR for

instrumental means, growing as fast as possible while making as much money as possible,

certain events have forced the NFL to start to look at CSR as more of an ethical, or integrative

tool. The NFL is trying to use CSR as a tool to fix their broken image, and reach out to society’s

demands. I have come to believe that CSR is finding the right mixture of doing what is right,

while also fulfilling ones duties to shareholders. Finding this right balance is not an easy task,

but tipping the scales too far in one direction could lead to a corporation running around putting

out fires that could have been prevented in the first place, as the NFL is currently realizing.

The Business Side of the NFL

When people think of the NFL they think of Sundays, hard hits, and the game of football.

However the NFL is much more than that. While it provides the fans with entertainment week in

and week out, at the end of the day it is still a business that is trying to make money. And for the

NFL, business is good. In 2015 the NFLs’ reputation faced one of the most difficult years it

could ever imagine, however business was not affected. Attendance was up 2%; average ticket

prices rose 3.5%; and with television ratings up as well, the NFL was able to top its’ prior record

breaking revenue of $10 billion and profits of $1 billion in 2014.2 With the NFL facing such

criticism you would think that sponsors may decide they no longer want t be tied to the league,

however sponsorship dollars also rose between 4% and 5% from the $1.07 billion the year

before.3 However sponsors have not been entirely quiet as they know part of their image is in the

hands of the NFL since their logos, and name is plastered all over stadiums and commercials

every weekend. Anheuser-Busch is one of the biggest NFL sponsors, and Bud Light is the

2 CHRIS ISIDORE, NFL EARNS RECORD PROFITS DESPITE UGLY IMAGE (CNN MONEY 2015), HTTP://MONEY.CNN.COM/2015/01/20/NEWS/COMPANIES/NFL-PROFITS/.3 Id.

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‘official beer’ of the NFL.4 With so much at stake with regards to the partnership at the NFL,

Anheuser-Busch felt like it was time to come out and address their partnership with the NFL.

Even though they feel like they are in no position to tell another business how they should

operate, spokesman for Anheuser-Busch did say "We are not yet satisfied with the league's

handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code."5

However with all that being said the approximately six year deal worth $1.2 billion between the

NFL and Anheuser-Busch does not seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, nor does the $185

million that Bud Light spent on advertising alone last year.6 The biggest reason being even if

Anheuser-Busch did decide to walk away the line for their replacement would be out the door at

the NFL corporate offices. "Any sponsor can be replaced. There's competition in all their key

categories," said Kent Atherton, a former vice president of sports at DirecTV, who now runs a

media and marketing company. "The NFL does exert leverage. They don't like to talk about it

but they carry a big stick. You want to play nice, you want to make sure you have a good

relationship with them when it comes time to renewals."7 Sponsorship dollars are not going

anywhere until the money stops coming in, or multiple sponsors get together and agree all ties

will be cut until any situation is fixed, and policies they believe in are put into place. In other

words it seems that the NFL can do no wrong, and no matter what the public’s perception of the

league is, they will continue to bring in billions of dollars year after year. So why change

anything at all? While business is still growing year after year maybe the NFL is seeing the

4 KEVIN CLARK, MIKE ESTERL & SUZANNE VRANICA, Budweiser, a Big Sponsor, Criticizes NFL, 2014THE WALL STREET JOUNAL, SEPT. 16, 2014 AT (2014), HTTP://WWW.WSJ.COM/ARTICLES/BUDWEISER-MAKER-CRITICIZES-NFL-1410897846.

5 Id.6 Id.7 Id.

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writing on the wall, and realizes that if it doesn’t act now it could lose on major profits in the

near future.

The NFL has been a profit-seeking organization ever since Roger Goodell took over as

commissioner in 2006. The year prior to his takeover the NFL saw revenue of $6.16 billion, and

Goodell stated at an owners meeting in 2008 that the league has a goal of bring in revenue of $25

billion by 2027.8 Sponsors are a great way to start attempting to achieve that goal, however with

such a serious growth target to be accomplished in the next 10 years that alone won’t do it. We

are starting to enter a world where people would rather sit at home with their friends and watch

the game on TV. High definition allows you to view the game like never before, and channels

such as RedZone, owned by the NFL, allow the viewer to see non-stop action for over 8 hours.

(Commercial free! It’s amazing). This is why the majority of NFL profits are going to come from

TV deals. IN 2011 the NFL signed TV deals with CBS, Fox, NBC, and ESPN worth a total of

$42 billion and those contracts are set to expire in 2022, 5 years before the ambitious goal date.9

This means that come 2022, or even prior to, the NFL is going to have to work out new deals

with these television networks, which could end up getting them much closer to that $25 billion

dream. The past few years have also shown speculation of the NFL expanding. It is vvery likely

that a team will be moved to Los Angeles in the next few years, an area of the country that could

bring in high profits for the league if fans there get their own franchise. Another less likely

speculation has been the move overseas. Every year the NFL hosts multiple games in London as

8 ALYSSA OURSLER, THE NFL’S BOOMING MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESS (INVESTOR PLACE 2012), HTTP://INVESTORPLACE.COM/2012/09/THE-NFL-BOOMING-BILLION-DOLLAR-BUSINESS/#.VIV-JYVF9P0.

9 MONTE BURKE , How the National Football League Can Reach $25 Billion in Annual Revenues, 2013FORBES, SPORTMONEY, AUG. 17, 2013 AT (2013), HTTP://WWW.FORBES.COM/SITES/MONTEBURKE/2013/08/17/HOW-THE-NATIONAL-FOOTBALL-LEAGUE-CAN-REACH-25-BILLION-IN-ANNUAL-REVENUES/.

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a way to pay tribute to the fans all over the world. But could the NFL actually move a team

across the globe? The short answer is most likely not, but when you think of the profits that

would roll in if one, or even two, teams started playing their homes in London I wouldn’t put it

past the NFL to give it a shot. These profit oriented goals show that one of the NFL’s main focus

is to make as much money as possible without thinking of who or what it is going to affect. The

NFL seems to think it is invincible, and can get away with anything it wants and the money will

keep pouring in, but who is going to get hurt on its way to the $25 billion goal? The day may

come where sponsors have finally had enough and refuse to pay the extreme prices the NFL

believe it is entitled too. Same can be said for the fans, which one day may be willing to stop

going to games due to such high ticket prices, or refuse to pay such high prices for memorabilia.

Everything the NFL has worked for could very easily blow up in its face, or it could see profits

that are similar to McDonalds and Nike. This is why from the mid-2000s until now it seems the

NFL thought of CSR as an instrumental tool, because all their time and planning went in to

putting a product on the field that was going to bring in as much money as possible. If the NFL

had stopped in order to think about player safety, or societal issues, and how these problems may

infiltrate their “unstoppable” growth as an organization, they may not have to be in the middle of

a CSR catastrophe.

Domestic Violence hits the NFL

Ray Rice

What can arguably be considered the biggest event to affect CSR and the NFL is the Ray

Rice incident. In February of 2014 Rice was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend in an elevator

at an Atlantic City hotel. A few days after the incident a video was released by TMZ Sports that

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showed Rice dragging his unconscious girlfriend out of the elevator. How she came to this state

was still unknown to the general public. Over the next few months Rice was backed by his team,

the Baltimore Ravens, by both the coach and ownership stating that Rice would still be a part of

this team, and would be ready for the upcoming season. At the same time Rice was indicted for

aggravated assault by a grand jury, which eventually made agree to pretrial intervention and

allowed him to partake in a program of counseling and anger management in exchange for the

opportunity to clear the charges against him in as fast as six months.10 However while the justice

system was doing its part to deal with Rice, his future with the NFL was still up in the air.

Surely the NFL would not condone such behavior, and would take drastic measures to show that

domestic violence would have no place in the league. Mid-July, roughly six months after Rice

attacked his girlfriend, who became his wife mid-way through the summer; Goodell finally

handed down his suspension: two games. For a crime that could have sent Rice to prison for up

to five years, the league thought two games was sufficient disciplinary action. To make matters

worse his suspension was for “conduct detrimental to the league” not even for what it was,

domestic violence. This was Goodell and the NFLs first mistake. Before we get into his other

mistakes let’s put this suspension into perspective. In 2014 Goodell suspended multiple players

for 4 games due to failing a drug test for marijuana, and one players’ 3rd failed drug test got him a

1 year suspension.11 A failed drug test for a drug that is legal by multiple states laws will get you

double the suspension from the NFL as beating your wife does. Is that the message that the NFL

wants to send to its audience? This policy is basically telling kids at home ‘go ahead and hit

10 LOUIS BIEN, A COMPLETE TIMELINE OF THE RAY RICE ASSAULT CASE (SB NATION 2014), HTTP://WWW.SBNATION.COM/NFL/2014/5/23/5744964/RAY-RICE-ARREST-ASSAULT-STATEMENT-APOLOGY-RAVENS.

11 NFL SUSPENSIONS TAKING A HEAVY TOLL ON 2014 ALREADY (SB NATION 2014), HTTP://WWW.SBNATION.COM/NFL/2014/7/3/5867515/NFL-SUSPENSIONS-2014-ROBERT-MATHIS-DARYL-WASHINGTON-LANE-JOHNSON.

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your girlfriend, but don’t smoke pot!’ These policy issues will be examined closer later on. Back

to Goodell and the NFL’s next mistake. Days after the suspension was handed down a new

video was released which showed Rice punching is girlfriend in the face, knocking her out cold.

To make matters worse it was reported that the NFL had seen this video in its entirety, yet still

decided that a two game suspension was enough.12 After the video was released for the world to

see the NFL and Goodell had to come forward and say that they “didn’t get it right” and a new

domestic violence policy was going to be put into place. Rice was then released by the

Baltimore Ravens, and suspended indefinitely by the NFL.13 However the damage was already

done, the NFL had lost the trust and respect of many, and people were demanding to know how

they planned on fixing this public relations nightmare.

Policy Changes in the NFL Offices

The NFL now has to start to transform from an instrumental minded organization, to an

integrative minded one while focusing on ethical issues at the same time. The NFLs first attempt

to begin to clean up the mess they had made was immediately changing the domestic violence

policy. Days after the league realized they had messed up the Rice case an e-mail was sent out to

all teams regarding their updated policy with regards to domestic violence. Under the new

policy any personnel, not just players, within the NFL will be subject to a minimum 6 game

suspension due to any sort of physical violence including domestic and sexual assault. Any

second time offenders of this policy will be banned from the NFL for life.14 While this was a

good first step in the right direction, the National Organization for Women (NOW) still feels that

12 LOUIS BIEN, A COMPLETE TIMELINE OF THE RAY RICE ASSAULT CASE (SB NATION 2014), HTTP://WWW.SBNATION.COM/NFL/2014/5/23/5744964/RAY-RICE-ARREST-ASSAULT-STATEMENT-APOLOGY-RAVENS .

13 Id.14 JOSH LEVS, NFL TOUGHENS POLICY ADDRESSING ASSAULT AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE (CNN 2014), HTTP://WWW.CNN.COM/2014/12/10/US/NFL-CONDUCT/.

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policy is not strong enough. Terry O’Neill, President of NOW, stated “The victim is an

afterthought in this 'new' policy -- as she was in the old policy. There is no guarantee that

economic support will be there for as long as it takes for a victim to get back on her feet, and no

indication that the NFL even understands that a six-game unpaid suspension could spark even

higher level of violence."15 She brings up a great point, and it makes you think, did the NFL rush

this new policy? At the end of the day what happens to the victim doesn’t seem to be the NFLs

problem. Say a player is kicked out of the League, and is now out of the ‘spotlight’ that is the

NFL. What happens to the women in his life? It can easily be said that they are even in more

danger now than they were when dating a NFL player. Granted I’m not saying a lifetime ban for

those who have domestic violence issues is a bad thing because I think it is needed, but more

needs to be done for the victims. The NFL needs to set-up some sort of safe Haven for those

affected by men in its league. CSR implementations should be done as a way to better the

community around you, and the NFL is powerful enough to influence many within society. The

quickness, and lack on detail, regarding the new policy makes it seem that the NFL is simply

more interested in saving face, rather than doing what is right. While the NFL should be

thinking about ethical issues in the decision it had handed down to Rice, it is once again stuck in

the instrumental mind and thought process. The NFL is thinking we need to put this fire out as

soon as possible, show the public that we care, and get back to making as much money as we can

sooner rather than later. This was a time where NFL officials should have stopped thinking

about money and started thinking about those who are affected by domestic violence everyday

and how they could help.

15 Id.

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While the policy change was a decent start, let’s be honest, how many casual football

fans are going to know that Goodell put this policy in place. While it was widely reported across

the majority of sports networks, such as ESPN, that still does not reach the amount of people the

NFL wants it to reach. So the NFL decided to utilize its biggest weapon, football. The best way

to reach the millions of fans that watch their favorite team every week is a public service

announcement during commercial breaks. The NFL decided to team up with ‘No More’, an

organization that was formed in an attempt to bring more attention to domestic violence.16 Ads

began running with celebrities stating “No More” followed by reasons that some use as excuses

for domestic violence, and soon implemented current and former NFL players to partake in these

ads.17 However the NFLs attempt to bring attention to domestic violence was once again under

attack. The first thing I noticed right off the bat when I saw a ‘No More’ ad was “these players

don’t want to be here.” Their responses and lines seemed very robotic, with the few exceptions.

The ads all around seemed like the NFL asked a few big name players to participate, and those

players felt obligated to say yes to their employers. I understand it is a very serious topic, but the

lack of any sort of emotion from the players doing the commercials shocked me, and the whole

thing just seemed forced. And I soon found out that I was not the only one to be critical of the

NFLs latest attempt. Once people did a little digging on the founder of ‘No More’ they were

even less impressed. Co-founder Jane Randel was brought on by the NFL as an advisor because

she must know a great amount about domestic violence since she was a founder of this

organization. But low and behold her background is not in domestic violence, it is in “reputation

16 JOHN KOBLIN, THE TEAM BEHIND THE N.F.L.’S ‘NO MORE’ CAMPAIGN (THE NEW YORK TIMES 2015), HTTP://WWW.NYTIMES.COM/2015/01/04/STYLE/THE-TEAM-BEHIND-THE-NFLS-NO-MORE-CAMPAIGN.HTML?_R=0 .

17 Id.

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and crisis management” and “corporate rebranding.”18 The question once again arises, does the

NFL care about bringing awareness to domestic violence, or is they more concerned about the

public’s view of them as an organization and how much money is being stuffed into their

pockets.

Learning more about the Problem

So far we have reviewed how the NFL handled the problem from both a policy

standpoint, and an awareness standpoint. Both actions that the NFL took however had debatable

purposes behind them. It seemed like everything up to this point was attempting to convince the

public as a whole the NFL cares about domestic violence, and wants to help do whatever they

can in order to put an end to it, where really all it cares about is saving face, putting out fires, and

getting everything back to ‘normal’ so the money can continue to roll in. The NFLs next stand

may be the smartest thing it has accomplished in the wake of the Ray Rice disaster. Goodell

decided that he wanted the entire NFL, players, owners, and every employee to learn more about

domestic violence and how they can help. In a memo sent out to all teams in the league Goodell

stated “Starting this season, we will dedicate significant resources to raise awareness on the

subjects of domestic violence and sexual assault, including support for victims. These are by no

means final steps. We will continue to work with experts to expand and develop long-term

programs that raise awareness, educate, and prevent domestic violence and sexual assault both

within the NFL and in our society in general."19 As part of these initiatives the NFL teamed up

18 DIANA MOSKOVITZ, NO MORE, THE NFL'S DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PARTNER, IS A SHAM (DEADSPIN 2015), HTTP://DEADSPIN.COM/NO-MORE-THE-NFLS-DOMESTIC-VIOLENCE-PARTNER-IS-A-SHAM-1683348576 .

19 GOODELL SENT MEMO TO TEAMS ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE RESOURCES (THE NFL 2014), HTTP://WWW.NFL.COM/NEWS/STORY/0AP3000000397110/ARTICLE/GOODELL-SENT-MEMO-TO-TEAMS-ABOUT-DOMESTIC-VIOLENCE-RESOURCES.

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with The National Domestic Abuse Hotline (Hotline) as well as The National Sexual Violence

Resource Center (NSVRC).20 It was learned that the Hotline received an 84% spike in calls

during the second week of September, and more than half those calls went unanswered due to

lack of support and resources. The NFL believes that they can help ensure that this does not

happen in the future.21 By supporting these foundations, both financially and by brining

awareness to them, the NFL is taking the steps necessary to fix a major problem in society.

Applying Policies

Unfortunately since the Ray Rice situation the NFL has still been hit with domestic

violence issues. However these new cases are a good measuring point to see how the NFL is

handling these cases as opposed to how they handled the Rice case. The case of Greg Hardy, a

defensive player for the Carolina Panthers, was happening at a similar time as the Rice incident.

While the Rice events occurred in February 2014, Hardy was accused of beating his girlfriend in

the middle of May 2014. Two months later Goodell would hand down Rice’s two game

suspensions, opening the flood gates to criticism, and Hardy may be his first chance at

redemption, or his first chance to pile on the problems.22 Hardy is convicted by a Judge on July

15th, and after realizing the how poorly the NFL handled the Rice case a new domestic violence

policy was put in place on August 28th.23 In theory this is a great time for the NFL to follow their

new plan, and suspend Hardy without pay for at least the first six games of the 2014 NFL season.

20 Id. 21 Id. 22 LOUIS BIEN, A COMPLETE TIMELINE OF THE RAY RICE ASSAULT CASE (SB NATION 2014), HTTP://WWW.SBNATION.COM/NFL/2014/5/23/5744964/RAY-RICE-ARREST-ASSAULT-STATEMENT-APOLOGY-RAVENS .

23 TIMELINE OF EVENTS IN GREG HARDY CASE (ESPN.COM 2015), HTTP://ESPN.GO.COM/BLOG/DALLAS-COWBOYS/POST/_/ID/4743265/TIMELINE-OF-EVENTS-IN-GREG-HARDY-CASE.

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Hardy plays week 1, and the NFL whiffs on their first true chance to do something right.

However in an attempt to redeem themselves Hardy, voluntarily, is placed on the

“Commissioners exempt list” and would not play another game during the 2014 season, but was

paid his salary of $13 million.24 In early 2015 all charges are dropped against Hardy and he pleas

his case to the NFL to reinstate him. The NFL agrees to take Hardy off of the “Commissioners

exempt list” however will be suspended for the first 10 games of the 2015 season. A neutral

arbitrator would eventually reduce this suspension down to four games, because Hardy was

successfully able to argue that his actions occurred at a time before the new domestic violence

policy was put into place, thus making the minimum six game suspension unnecessary.25

Greg Hardy is a big name player in the NFL, which is why so much attention was given

on his actions and discipline. However Ray McDonald is not so much of a big name, and is what

many people consider to be the first real challenge the NFL faced under the new Domestic

Violence Policy. McDonald was arrested once in 2014 for domestic violence, and investigated

on a separate account of sexual assault late 2014.26 The second investigation led the San

Francisco 49ers to release McDonald, however after investigations led by the NFL it was

determined by league officials there was not enough to suspend McDonald since charges were

dropped, or never filed in the sexual assault case.27 If a player puts themselves in any sort of

24 TIMELINE OF EVENTS IN GREG HARDY CASE (ESPN.COM 2015), HTTP://ESPN.GO.COM/BLOG/DALLAS-COWBOYS/POST/_/ID/4743265/TIMELINE-OF-EVENTS-IN-GREG-HARDY-CASE.

25 TIMELINE OF EVENTS IN GREG HARDY CASE (ESPN.COM 2015), HTTP://ESPN.GO.COM/BLOG/DALLAS-COWBOYS/POST/_/ID/4743265/TIMELINE-OF-EVENTS-IN-GREG-HARDY-CASE.

26 LINDSAY H. JONES, BEARS RELEASE RAY MCDONALD AFTER ARREST ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, CHILD ENDANGERMENT CHARGES (U.S. TODAY 2015), HTTP://WWW.USATODAY.COM/STORY/SPORTS/NFL/BEARS/2015/05/25/RAY-MCDONALD-ARREST-DOMESTIC-VIOLENCE/27914733/.

27 Id.

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position that would lead to a domestic violence arrest or sexual assault investigation there is

enough to suspend them under the new policy. The NFL should have zero tolerance for anything

of that nature. Under the new domestic violence policy a second-time offender is banned from

the NFL for life, but McDonald signed to play with the Chicago Bears for the 2015 season. That

is until he was once again arrested in May 2015 for domestic violence and child endangerment,

and was immediately released by the Bears.28 This was his third offense in less than a year, and

the NFL was still giving him the chance to play on Sundays. The bears did the right thing by

cutting all ties with him just hours after his third arrest, however the NFL has still yet to do the

right thing. While every team in the NFL knows giving McDonald a fourth chance is absolutely

not an option, but they could if they wanted to and would if they could get away with it. The

NFL has yet to ban McDonald for life, which should have been done the day following his third

arrest. The fact that cases such as Hardy, and McDonald have been handled the way they have

shows the lack of seriousness the NFL has when it comes to doing its part that will help put an

end to domestic violence. At the end of the day the facts remain, if you can play football and

help put the best product possible on the field the NFL is going to do whatever they can to keep

you in the league.

From the viewpoint of the players in the league it also seems that the educational process

that every member employed by any part of the NFL was supposed to partake in was not as

helpful as it should have been. Such a great ideas success is based off delivery, and if the NFL

can’t deliver the information in a way that will reach its players then a day of learning becomes

useless. Many players were hesitant on letting their voices be heard with regards to how they feel

the domestic violence awareness presentation given to each of the 32 teams went for fear of

28 Id.

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being disciplined by speaking out against the league. (Good sign). However Cincinnati Bengals

Eric Winston had this to say when asked whether he felt the educational expierence

accomplished what it set out to accomplish; "I don't think the league has done the players a

service, "They haven't approached them in an educational way that, if there is some symptoms or

there is some precursors, perhaps, like, ‘Hey, if you're experiencing these things or thinking

these things, why don't we talk about it.' Instead of taking a tone that's ‘We can educate you, we

can help you,' it's ‘You're a bad person.'”29 When the NFL Players Association, the union that

represents all NFL players, reached out to the league as a way to coordinate efforts to better get

the message across the leagues response was; “Look, players are perpetrators and the inference

was they should be treated as such”30 What was once a fantastic plan of attack to educate all

NFL employees about the risk, signs and prevention of domestic violence, turned on the NFL

conducting presentations to a bunch of “perpetrators” So how exactly was the NFL able to botch

the one good idea they had when it came to domestic violence awareness? Easy, they rushed the

process just to get it over with and say ‘Hey look what we did! Now everyone is our league is

aware of domestic violence’ just liked it rushed the new “zero tolerance” policy. In 2014 Ann

Isaacson was appointed VP of Social Responsibility, rough job to have with the NFL, and it was

under her guidance that this training program was implemented. The NFLs goal was to educate

all 32 teams in eight weeks.31 The NFL hoped to solve all their domestic violence problems in

eight weeks and then never have to think about it again because they did all they could. The

29 SARAH KOGOD, PLAYERS DON'T THINK THE NFL'S DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TRAINING IS WORKING, SB NATION, MAY 6, 2015 AT , HTTP://WWW.SBNATION.COM/NFL/2015/5/6/8209087/NFL-DOMESTIC-VIOLENCE-TRAINING- PRESENTATION-NFLPA .

30 Id. 31 SARAH KOGOD, PLAYERS DON'T THINK THE NFL'S DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TRAINING IS WORKING, SB NATION, MAY 6, 2015 AT , HTTP://WWW.SBNATION.COM/NFL/2015/5/6/8209087/NFL-DOMESTIC-VIOLENCE-TRAINING- PRESENTATION-NFLPA .

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training program consisted of a 60-minute presentation, involving a 26 minute PowerPoint, and

34 minutes of whatever instructor your team happens to have rambling on about domestic

violence.32 There was no playbook, no consistency between instructors, and no recording of the

presentations so it remains unclear what message was given to each team. The majority of what

players learned was who to report possible domestic violence issues to, when the point should

have been what are signs of possible domestic violence, and how to help yourself or your

teammates if you feel you are having anger issues, and could possibly harm a loved one. There

was no reason to attempt and reach all 32 teams in eight weeks besides the notion that time is

money. There was no reason that these presentations had to be limited to 60 minutes, or that the

level of inconsistency could be so high. NFL players feel that the message they received was

nowhere near the message that should have been spread, and if the people it was meant to affect

most feel it isn’t working, then there is a big problem with the system. Once again an idea that

seems so good on paper, and looks great in the eyes of the public, is botched by the NFL just so

they can say they did it, and receive some good publicity at the same time.

NFLs Poor Timing

The NFL has attempted to do a lot to fix the major issue of how poorly they handled

multiple domestic violence cases. The problem is it took a major public relation disaster for the

NFL to shine some light on this issue. The raises the question, if the Ray Rice incident never

occurred would the NFL even care about domestic violence today, and do they even truly care

about bringing awareness to the topic? It took until 2015 for the NFL to address a societal

problem that has been an issue long before the league even existed. This is also a reason behind

the fact that we, as society, cannot blame the NFL for domestic violence. Incidents are going to

32 Id.

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occur, whether they are domestic violence related or not, and players are going to continue to

find themselves on the wrong side of the law when they are not playing football. That being said

these issues are bigger than the NFL, and it is in prime position to reach millions of people week

in and week out to spread awareness, and show that this issues are things the NFL finds

unacceptable. However it was not until the NFL was forced to make a move did they even

acknowledge such a horrific topic, and attempt to “change” itself and its values.

The NFL is Killing its Players

The Science of Concussion

The NFL is a hard hitting sport, and it’s no surprise that injuries are going to happen. For

the most part these injuries will sideline players for a certain period of time, but they will heal

and be able to get back onto the field eventually. Over the past 20 years scientist and doctors

have discovered common injuries that contact sport players are diagnosed with that do not

necessarily heal over time. These are injuries to the brain, and more specifically concussions.

While advances in science are the reason we know so much about the brain and injuries to it

today, the NFL denied any relationship between hard hits and lifelong brain injuries for an

extended period of time. I am not sure how this was possible because anyone who has seen great

football movies from the 1990s such as Any Given Sunday and Varsity Blues know that even

Hollywood has used the plot of concussions and forcing players to play through them ending

badly. If the NFL had indeed known about the link between concussions and traumatic brain

injuries, they may have breached a duty that they owed to their employees, the players on the

field. A principal has a duty to act in accordance with the express and implied terms of any

contract between the principal and the agent.33 Such an implied term of any contract between a

33 Restatement (Third) Of Agency § 8.13 (2006)

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player and the NFL may be player safety. If the NFL purposely ignored facts that it knew could

affect a players’ safety then this duty is breached. In order to break down whether there was a

breach in duty, and review what the league has done in more recent years, here is a time table of

events regarding concussion research.

Year Event1994 -NFL creates Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) committee appoint Dr. Elliot

Pellman to run it. Dr. Pellman tells Sports Illustrated “concussions are part of the profession, an occupational risk. Commissioner Tagliabue dismisses any notion concussions are a problem.

1995 -NFL agent Leigh Steinberg hold conference for players to listen to medical professionals explains dangers of concussions.

1999 -Former player Mike Webster files for disability with NFL Retirement Board, claiming football caused dementia. Board later rules Webster permanently disabled; ruling shows possible knowledge of link between injuries and football.

2000 -Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says start QB Troy Aikman should ignore concussion concerns if it’s a “big game”. Aikman retires 6 months later due to concussion problems.

2002 *Dr. Bennet Omalu examines Webster’s brain closer discovering a brain disease never before seen in football players, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). This would turn out to be the biggest concussion breakthrough to date.

2003 -More studies show repeat concussions may lead to slower recovery of neurological function. -MTBI chairman allows a player who was knocked out unconscious back in to game moments after injury occurred.

2004 -Former player Justin Strzelczyk complains of depression and erratic behavior dies in a car accident, CTE found in his brain by Dr. Omalu. -NFL still denies any lingering effects of concussions, and extended treatment time. Dispute all other medical findings. States NFL players are less susceptible to brain injuries than the general public. They have “evolved”

2005 -MTBI publishes paper stating return to play after concussion does not increase injury risk. -Former player Terry Long commits suicide at age of 45, CTE was found in his brain. -Dr. Omalu publishes his findings for the first time in the journal Neurosurgery.

2006 -Former player Andre Waters commits suicide at age 44, Dr. Omalu discovers CTE in his brain. -NFL stats Dr. Omalu is completely wrong, his findings are “fallacious reasoning” and his papers should be retracted from Neurosurgery journal

2007 -Roger Goodell takes over as commissioner, points to MTBI committee as proof of leagues commitment, even though all they have done is deny reports. -Dr. Ira Casson, an actual neurologist takes over as chairman to MTBI

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committee. -Research shows players with history of 3 or more concussions “significantly greater risk” of depression. -Dr, Casson denies any and all evidence linking head injuries to depression, dementia, or any long term injuries in HBO interview. Dubbed “Dr. No”

2009 -NY Times reports NFL study shows former players 19 times more likely to get dementia, Alzheimer’s, or memory related disease than general public. -Dr. Ann McKee, who was ignored by NFL, presents CTE findings at Congressional hearing. Rep. Linda Sanchez (Cali) tells Goodell problem reminds her that of tobaccos industry ignoring link between smoking and cancer. -NFL Spokesman tells NY Times its obvious due to medical research concussions can lead to long-term problems. This marks the first time league admits knowledge. -NFL implements stricter return to play guidelines post concussion

2010 -League warns concussions can “change your life forever” donate $30 million to National Institutes of Health for brain trauma research.

2011 -Dave Duerson commits suicide by shooting himself in the chest with a note stating he wants his brain to be donated to science. -Former player Ray Easterling files lawsuit against NFL with 4,500 others claiming league engaged in “concerted effort of deception and denial” in handling concussions.

2012 Ray Easterling and Junior Seau commit both diagnosed with CTE; NFL steered Seau’s brain towards their doctors who found CTE anyways.

2013 -NFL Players Association funds $100 million study at Harvard Medical School for an array of medical issues for both current and former players.-NFL announces surprise settlement to former player’s lawsuit of $765 million. Goodell states this was not “an admission of guilt.” Settlement was thrown out by Judge who believed it was insufficient. All facts used in above timeline.34

Just as the NFL so poorly handled the domestic violence issues the past 2 years, it has

been poorly handling concussion protocol since the mid 90s. The best simile drawn on how the

NFL undertook the idea of concussions was how big tobacco denied the link to cancer, as

democratic rep Linda Sanchez pointed out.

What level of duty did the NFL owe its players?

34 LAUREN EZELL, TIMELINE: THE NFL’S CONCUSSION CRISIS (PBS 2013), HTTP://WWW.PBS.ORG/WGBH/PAGES/FRONTLINE/SPORTS/LEAGUE-OF-DENIAL/TIMELINE-THE-NFLS-CONCUSSION-CRISIS/.

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All NFL players are employees of both the NFL, and whatever individual team they

happen to play for. Due to an employee employer relationship existing, the NFL owes players a

certain level of duty. Employers owe their employees a duty to reasonably ensure safe working

conditions with respect to the type of work that is being done.35 In this case if the NFL had

knowledge of long-term health risks attached to concussions there would be a strong argument

for negligence on behalf of the retired, and even current, players. In order to prove negligence

players would have to show five things. First that there was a duty owed to them, the second

being that duty was breached, there was a causation between the breach of that duty and the

injuries sustained, proximate cause showing the harm was within the scope of liability and

finally damages, which the players would have to show they experienced actual harm due to the

NFLs actions.36 The NFL attempted to settle this case for the same reasons any firm wants to

settle, because they do not think they can win the case, and if they lose at trial damages are going

to be higher than if they settle. While the NFL argued that reaching a settlement was not an

admission of guilt or any wrong doing, it’s hard to imagine another reason to shell out $765

million other than knowing you were wrong and going to lose unimaginable damages at trial, as

big tobacco found out when they had to pay over $300 billion in the early 1990s. IN reviewing

the five parts test of negligence a conclusion can be made if the retired players should have

accepted the term to settlement, or if they should have continued to fight. It is clear there was a

duty here. The NFL had at the very least a general idea that concussion, and more specifically,

repeated concussions, could lead to long-term brain damage. There is an assumption of risk when

35 Restatement (Second) of Agency § 435 (1958)

36 LEGAL INFORMATION INSTITUTE UNIV. OF CORNELL LAW SCHOOL [HEREINAFTER NEGLIGENCE], HTTPS://WWW.LAW.CORNELL.EDU/WEX/NEGLIGENCE .

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it comes to playing football, but it is reasonable to believe that the assumption is broken bones,

or injuries of that nature. How long has there been an assumption of risk that injuries sustained

while playing football could kill you 20 years later. This is a recent development, but will be an

assumption of risk for every player that steps onto the football field from now on. By covering

up any ideas the NFL had regarding concussions the NFL breached the duty it owed to the

players. There is a casual connection between this breach and the injuries sustained by the

players. If the NFL took the necessary steps to protect players from multiple head injuries, and

put rules regarding concussions and return to playing into place long before they did, they could

have protected themselves from future lawsuits. There are a few bumps when it comes to

causation though. CTE can only be diagnosed through autopsy, making it impossible to prove if

a retired player who is still alive is suffering from CTE or not.37 This also brings a lot of

variables into play, and while the majority of professionals do believe that repeated head trauma

is the leading cause of CTE, it is hard to completely rule out outside factors such as genetics, or

substance abuse.38 This would have made the causation argument in court more difficult;

however it is still not an entirely impossible battle.

At the end of the day, even though they had to pay out almost $400 million in damages, it

can be said that the NFL walked away with a victory. Paul Anderson is a consulting attorney

and has been following concussion litigation since the beginning, even starting up his own

website where he can post updates with regards to the lawsuits. When it comes to the settlement

37 DARREN HEITNER , WHY MOST NFL TEAMS AND THE NFLPA HAVE ESCAPED BEING NAMED DEFENDANTS IN NFL CONCUSSION LITIGATION (FORBES 2012), HTTP://WWW.FORBES.COM/SITES/DARRENHEITNER/2012/08/01/WHY- MOST-NFL-TEAMS-AND-THE-NFLPA-HAVE-ESCAPED-BEING-NAMED-DEFENDANTS-IN-NFL-CONCUSSION-LITIGATION/ .

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Boston University CTE Center. Frequently asked questions. http://www.bu.edu/cte/about/ frequently-asked-questions/

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reached by the league and players Mr. Anderson stated; “The NFL has all-but eliminated any

future threat of concussion litigation, saved itself from potentially damaging discovery and

turned a PR nightmare into a salvageable message of philanthropy. Class counsel, too, will get to

share in more than $112.5 million in class attorneys’ fees, for essentially promoting a slick

advertising campaign in which they convinced 99% of the class members to “accept” the

settlement—by not opting out.”39 The NFL taking a public relations nightmare, throwing money

at it, and turning it into a philanthropy campaign, stop me if you have heard this story before.

A Tale of Two Issues

The NFL has faced two very different, yet very severe, issues within the past 5 years and

the way it chose to handle the two were eerily similar. At first both issues were attempted to be

covered up, or if you want to believe the NFL were not fully investigated to the best of its

abilities. The Ray Rice tapes that finally made its way to the public were deemed to never have

been in possession of the NFL, and the fact that concussions cause lasting brain trauma seems to

have been a shock for the NFL. While the NFL admitted some guilt in the handling of the Ray

Rice incident, it refuses to admit any wrong-doing when it comes to concussions, which is even

stated right in the settlement that just because the settlement is being paid does not mean the

NFL is admitting any guilt. After not taking accountability for its actions the NFL then decides

that the best way to handle each situation is to throw as much money as need be in order to make

it go away, or seem like everything is ok. If the NFL did know that concussion were this

harmful, or had seen the elevator tape prior to giving Ray Rice a two game suspension, then a

plan on how they would handle if the news ever broke had to be created. Now maybe this is just

39 PAUL ANDERSON , NFL CONCUSSION LITIGATION (2012), HTTP://NFLCONCUSSIONLITIGATION.COM/.

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how the NFL handles all the issues that it is faced with dealing. However let’s digress for a

moment and take a look at two examples of how the NFL handled certain situations, the first

being another controversial topic that hit the NFL this past year; Deflategate. As an extremely

biased fan towards Tom Brady and the New England Patriots I won’t get too much into the

issues, or my opinions, but from a procedural standpoint I think it is important to look at how the

NFL, and Roger Goodell, handled this one. After the Patriots were accused of using under

inflated footballs during a big playoff game an independent investigation took place. This lead

to the Wells Report, a 147 page document that more or less said the Patriots and Brady were

“more probable than not” that the team was “generally aware” that those footballs were under

inflated.40 A week later Tom Brady is suspended for four games, for “violating the integrity of

the game.”41 Wait a minute. Brady gets hit with four games for maybe knowing that the

footballs he was using were underinflated and Greg Hardy received four due to his direct

involvement in beating up his girlfriend. Once again the NFL shoots themselves in the foot. To

make matters worse after Brady appeals to an “independent arbitrator” his suspension his held,

mostly because that “independent arbitrator” was Roger Goodell, the man who handed down the

suspension. To make a long story short the Brady takes the NFL to court who uplifts the

suspension due to the unfairness of the process and lack of evidence. So Goodell appeals; yes he

actually appealed this.42 Which brings me to my point; The NFL is willing to deny, refuse to

listen to outside sources, and eventually cave and pay people off with millions of dollars once the

public is in an uproar with regards to topics such as player safety and domestic violence, but 40 THEODORE V. WELLS, JR., The Wells Report, 2015 , MAY 6, 2015 AT (2015), HTTP://WELLSREPORTCONTEXT.COM/ .

41 Timeline of Events for Deflategate, 2015 , MAR. 9, 2015 AT (2015), HTTP://ESPN.GO.COM/BLOG/NEW-ENGLAND-PATRIOTS/POST/_/ID/4782561/TIMELINE-OF-EVENTS-FOR-DEFLATEGATE-TOM-BRADY.

42 Id.

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when it comes to a team that many believe Goodell as a personal vendetta with will go to any

and all extreme lengths in order to attempt to reveal the truth of the matter regarding how big

Tom Brady’s balls are. Can this league get any more backwards when it comes to giving the

proper issues the right amount of attention?

A second example of questionable decisions by the NFL was the 2012 referee lockout.

When the league and the referee union could not come to terms with a new collective bargaining

contract there was a lockout forcing the league to use “replacement officials” for the start of the

2012 season.43 The league believed it had the upper hand, but the replacement officials soon

became the main story of every Monday morning, and how bad of a job they were doing. Once

the entire situation came to a head when the referees single handily caused the Green Bay

Packers to lose a Monday Night Football game during the third week of the NFL season, which

was being watched by the entire world, the NFL knew the jig was up.44 The next day a new

collective bargaining agreement was put in place, and the regular referees were back on the field

the following Sunday. So for three weeks the NFL thought they could continue to skate by with

the replacement refs, and believed they were doing a good enough job to continue the lockout.

But once the entire world saw exactly how bad of a job was being done, and the fact theses refs

had no business out there, there was a public uproar, and the NFL made a change. So to go full

circle, if the NFL thinks it is right, or believes that it is doing nothing wrong it will continue to

operate under that state of mind until the fans start to get a little restless, then it will cave and

43 MICHAEL PEARSON, SORRY ABOUT THAT, NFL CHIEF SAYS OF REPLACEMENTS , 2012 CNN, OCT. 1, 2012 AT (2012), HTTP://WWW.CNN.COM/2012/09/27/SPORT/NFL-REFEREES-DEAL/.

44 MICHAEL PEARSON, SORRY ABOUT THAT, NFL CHIEF SAYS OF REPLACEMENTS , 2012 CNN, OCT. 1, 2012 AT (2012), HTTP://WWW.CNN.COM/2012/09/27/SPORT/NFL-REFEREES-DEAL/.

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spend the money it needs to spend in order to “fix” the situation and make the fans happy again.

Which in theory is a great business model, the fans are the customers of the NFL and a business

always wants their customers to be happy. However if fans seem to not really care about

whatever issue is up for debate, such as Deflategate, the NFL will flex its muscles, spend money

that it really doesn’t need to spend, and go to Earths end in order to achieve what it truly believes

is “justice.” It is sort of like saying every board member or upper executive of McDonalds is

going to vote for Donald Trump to be President; I think the idea is absolutely crazy, but it’s not

going to stop me from ordering a Big Mac. But if those same board members have a long history

of domestic violence issues, something might need to change before I make my next stop there.

At the end of the day with regards to the NFL its Roger Goodells’ world and we’re just living in

it.

The Teams Perspective

The NFL is making it look like it wants to change, and is taking steps in the right

direction to do so; at least on paper. However I think it is important to look at what individual

teams are doing in order to cope with the issues that have hit the NFL as a whole. Maybe

individual teams are making better strides than the NFL, and it is time for the NFL to look

towards them in order to make better changes as a whole organization. When looking at what

teams are doing in the handling of athletes that have off-field misconduct issues I always want to

attempt to answer the question; does Roger Goodell have any business is disciplining these

athletes in the first place? If a team is self-governing and can hand down penalties on their own,

whether they are to athletes or any other employee within the organization, then the NFL should

allow that team to take care of its own business.

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The Aaron Hernandez Effect

Aaron Hernandez had a history of drug abuse, multiple failed drug tests for marijuana,

and violence, multiple bar fights and encounters with law enforcement, during his time in college

at Florida University. While he could have been drafted much earlier because all teams knew he

had a very successful career in college and would be a good NFL tight end, he fell until the

fourth round where the New England Patriots eventually decided to take the risk on him in

2010.45 Three years later he is arrested and eventually convicted of murder. With a history of

character issues it can be argued that Aaron Hernandez had no business being in the NFL in the

first place, and that players need to be under higher scrutiny in their college days because player

in the NFL is a privilege, not a right. With the NFL constantly being profit seeking, and will to

do whatever it needs to do in order to hit that $25 billion goal, it is never going to tell a possible

star player that he cannot join the NFL, which means it is up to individual teams to self-govern

themselves and think about these athletes can bring to their organization besides football talents.

These athletes need to be thought of as people as well as players. In this past NFL draft in April

there were multiple players with domestic violence issues, failed drug tests, and overall

questionable character fitness reports that were slated as first or second round draft picks, which

fell to the fourth or fifth round. This is the same story that played out with regards to Aaron

Hernandez, instead of going undrafted and passed by all teams he just fell in the draft. The

simple answer to why this is is because teams are getting first round talent and only have to pay

them fourth round money, which is considerably different. In the 2014 draft a first round draft

pick could make anywhere from $20 to $7 million depending on their draft position, and signing 45 SEAN PENDERGAST, THE AARON HERNANDEZ EFFECT: NFL TEAMS ARE GETTING PICKIER IN THE DRAFT — OR NOT, 2015 HOUS. PRESS, MAY 12, 2015 AT (2015), HTTP://WWW.HOUSTONPRESS.COM/NEWS/THE-AARON-HERNANDEZ-EFFECT-NFL-TEAMS-ARE-GETTING-PICKIER-IN-THE-DRAFT-OR-NOT-7420054.

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bonus as opposed to a fourth round draft pick who would make around $2.5 million.46 It once

again comes down to economics instead of ethics, and teams are unwilling to pass on what they

believe to be a fantastic “value” and are willing to take the risk of this player having character

issues because at the end of the day they are only losing out on $2 million, which we know is

pocket change in the NFL.

Long before Aaron Hernandez was an NFL issue, the Houston Texans had strong beliefs

in drafting players out of college that passed their character fitness evaluation. The Texans have

plenty of ‘red flag’ players for every draft and once a player makes that list he is considered un-

draftable by the organization. A failed drug test will get them on this list because as former

General Manager Charley Casserly stated “We assumed a guy that knew the test was coming and

still failed couldn’t manage his life.”47 Which makes a lot of sense since every player who wants

to enter the NFL draft faces a drug test, and shouldn’t be surprised when it happens. Even

though the Texans are a fairly younger franchise when compared to other NFL organizations,

there is very little poor character players in their past, and have been able to stay away from off-

field misconduct issues. It seems the rest of the NFL could take a lesson from the Houston

Texans, one team that is actually putting ethical decisions a head of football success.

The NFL vs. The Justice System

Since more teams are not taking the ethical steps that the Texans are, yet, I think there

needs to be more accountability and self-regulating when it comes to player discipline. Basically

46 MARK SANDRITTER, NFL DRAFT 2014: TRACKING ROOKIE CONTRACTS, 2014 SB NATION, JULY 24, 2014 AT (2014), HTTP://WWW.SBNATION.COM/NFL/2014/5/18/5727546/NFL-ROOKIE-CONTRACTS-SIGNED-2014-DRAFT.

47 SEAN PENDERGAST, THE AARON HERNANDEZ EFFECT: NFL TEAMS ARE GETTING PICKIER IN THE DRAFT — OR NOT, 2015 HOUS. PRESS, MAY 12, 2015 AT (2015), HTTP://WWW.HOUSTONPRESS.COM/NEWS/THE- AARON-HERNANDEZ-EFFECT-NFL-TEAMS-ARE-GETTING-PICKIER-IN-THE-DRAFT-OR-NOT-7420054 .

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I feel that the NFL as a whole needs to take a step back when it comes to the disciplinary

process, and allow the teams that decided to draft or sign a particular player to handle any issue

that comes with that player. The day Aaron Hernandez was arrested he was released by the New

England Patriots. They didn’t wait for a trial, or for further evidence on whether he may be

acquitted or not, they released him and did their best over the next few weeks to distance

themselves as much as possible.48 This included any fan that had purchased a Hernandez jersey

the opportunity to replace it with a different player one day at Gillette Stadium. At the end of the

day the NFL did not need to step in and discipline Hernandez any further because our fantastic

Justice system did that for them. The NFL isn’t going to ban Hernandez for life after he has been

sentenced to life in prison by a jury of his peers. However many players, such as Adrian

Peterson this past summer, have gone through the justice system and come out “clean” on the

other side. Peterson went to court facing child abuse charges and after pleading ‘no contest’ was

given 80 hours of community service, a $4,000 fine, and placed on probation. Due to the laws of

Texas it was not illegal, or incarceration worthy at least, in that jurisdiction. So if our justice

system says conduct by an individual is not illegal, why is it ok for a private organization to say

it is and thus apply disciplinary actions against him? As Marc Edelman from Forbes points out;

“In most other private industries, employees that engage in wrongdoing when not at work are

either punished by the judicial system or by their employer.  They are not subjected to industry-

wide discipline.”49 With this logic it would be up to the Minnesota Vikings to discipline Adrian

Peterson, and not the League as a whole which makes a lot of sense. The argument that teams

48 Id.49 MARC EDELMAN , WHY AARON HERNANDEZ'S CONVICTION DOES LITTLE TO SUPPORT THE NEED FOR AN NFL PERSONAL CONDUCT POLICY, 2015 FORBES SPORTSMONEY, APR. 19, 2015 AT (2015), HTTP://WWW.FORBES.COM/SITES/MARCEDELMAN/2015/04/19/WHY-AARON-HERNANDEZS-CONVICTION-DOES-LITTLE- TO-SUPPORT-THE-NEED-FOR-AN-NFL-PERSONAL-CONDUCT-POLICY/2/ .

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are going to be biased against their own players and handed down suspensions is mute because

of the public backlash they would receive. I think individual franchises are more than capable of

knowing what an acceptable discipline to players off field misconduct are, and can be trusted to

hand down the proper suspension. If they don’t they will hear it from the fans just as the NFL

has heard it over the past two years. Putting this type of power into the hands of individual

franchises is going to increase their accountability. When an off-field issue occurs nothing

changes with regards to day to day business at the team level as they wait for the punishment to

be handed down from the NFL front offices. Now if it was up to the team to figure out the proper

discipline time and effort is going away from employees that would rather be using their time

and effort into making the team better and focusing on football. Instead of the NFL investigating

accusations, and going over police reports, it would be the teams’ responsibility, and when it

comes to winning in the NFL any time not spent on making the best possible product to play on

Sunday is going put you at a disadvantage. Thus teams may start to stay away from those

players with character issues because they do not want to take the risk of having to deal with any

potential in-house disciplinary actions. Taking on more accountability, no matter what industry

you are working in, is going to affect many decisions that organizations makes.

By taking the NFL out of the disciplinary process it would be able to spend the majority

of its time working on more important business goals, and continue to improve to most popular

sport in the country. Any on-field issues should still be in the NFLs jurisdiction, meaning it

would continue to regulate rules and insure that all teams were following said rules. NFL should

also be in charge if disciplining any actions that occur while playing each Sunday. Fining

players for dangerous hits to the head would be a great example of what the NFL should be in

charge of. In 2014 28 players were arrested from the Super Bowl on February 2nd until the start

28

of the season in the first week of September.50 Thinking about what the NFL could accomplish

during the offseason if they did not have to deal with another one of its employees getting

arrested in unfathomable. The NFL could be attempting to solve the concussion problem that is

affecting so many of its players both past and present. Or it could be taking its time in actually

developing a plan on how to help those who have been affected by domestic violence, not just a

shady layout of how many games one should be suspended when the inevitable happens and they

beat their significant other. I think invoking some sort of character fitness test should also not be

out of the question. When players are getting ready to enter the NFL Draft they are each judged

on physical abilities, however I think it is time to start judging them on their character fitness as

well. Things such as past convictions, or crimes committed would go against them with this test,

and if they score low enough maybe the NFL should make the decision that their type of

character is not what the NFL is looking for, and deny them from entering the draft. This would

make players much more accountable for their actions while attending college, and they would

have no one to blame but themselves if their NFL dream goes out the window. The majority of

what the NFL has done these past few years has been very reactive, mainly because it has no

other option. However if it was up to the teams to solve the problems of their employees getting

arrested the NFL could begin and take a more proactive role in fixing these problems. Now I’m

not giving the NFL an out here because it has the resources where it could do both no problem,

but at the same time the NFL is shouldering the majority of the blame for these incidents where

the teams are more or less being let off the hook. The Baltimore Ravens aren’t still faces

backlash from how the Ray Rice incident was handled and they stood by him longer than most.

The Minnesota Vikings aren’t being called out for supporting child abuse because they are 50 TONY MANFRED, LIST OF NFL PLAYERS ARRESTED SINCE THE SUPER BOWL, 2014 BUS. INSIDER, SEPT. 10, 2014 AT (2014), HTTP://WWW.BUSINESSINSIDER.COM/LIST-OF-NFL-PLAYER-ARRESTS-2014-9.

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allowing Adrian Peterson to play for them still. It’s the NFL that “messed it up” or allows

“thugs and convicts” to play in its league, which is why accountability on behalf of the teams is

what is needed in order to truly begin and see a change across the league as a whole.

Conclusion

The NFL horribly mishandled the Ray Rice domestic violence case. It then horrible

mishandled its new domestic violence policy, the Greg Hardy case, and its brilliant league-wide

educational experience. It possibly lied to its players since who knows how long with regards to

what affect concussions and traumatic brain injuries have on their bodies, and how it could affect

their futures. Even from an individual team’s point of view it seems economic value outweighs

ethical values, which seems to be the pattern across the entire league. When I began research for

this paper, I was hoping to find that the league was taking great steps to bring awareness to

domestic violence, they it would be trying to take care of the past players that gave their lives to

the sport, and that there was a change in the near future about how the NFL conducted business.

Unfortunately I feel that is just not going to be the case, and the NFL will continue to do

whatever it has to in order to continue growth at a rate no other industry could accomplish. The

demand for the NFL is just too high for it to stop bringing in money. I can say I am part of the

problem as well because I have learned so much about shady NFL dealings, and lack of

commitment to issues that matter, yet when Sunday arrives I know I’ll be in front of the TV

watching whatever game is on. If the NFL really wants to begin to change I think it could be

fairly simple. It needs to really takes its time in developing, and implementing new policies

regarding not just domestic violence, but all crimes that are getting so many of these young men

arrested year after year. It needs to start worrying about what is right, not what is profitable. If

the NFL doesn’t start to think about its future it might not have one. And finally there needs to

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be more accountability across the entire league, not just the front offices but every franchise as

well. Personnel needs to start looking at the type of men they are allowing to join this league,

and being held accountable when those with violent pasts or violent tendencies commit crimes in

the national spotlight. Things are going to happen, nobody is denying that, and this league will

never be perfect. However with such high profits year after year, and setting the tone for sports

industries around the world, the NFL has a chance to really make a change in many different

aspects of life, and by spending a little more time thinking from an ethical or integrative

standpoint it may be able to accomplish that change.

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