NEW YORK (AP) — Commissioner Roger Goodell says the NFL wants to implement new personal conduct policies by the Super Bowl.
At a news conference Friday, Goodell made his first public statements in more than a week about the rash of NFL players involved in domestic violence. He did not announce any specific changes, but said he has not considered resigning.
“Unfortunately, over the past several weeks, we have seen all too much of the NFL doing wrong,” he said. “That starts with me.”
The league has faced increasing criticism that it has not acted quickly or emphatically enough concerning the domestic abuse cases.
The commissioner reiterated that he botched the handling of the Ray Rice case.
“The same mistakes can never be repeated,” he said.
Goodell now oversees all personal conduct cases, deciding guilt and penalties.
He said he believes he has the support of the NFL’s owners, his bosses.
“That has been clear to me,” he said.
The commissioner and some NFL teams have been heavily criticized for lenient or delayed punishment of Rice, Adrian Peterson and other players involved in recent domestic violence cases. Less than three weeks into the season, five such cases have made headlines, the others involving Greg Hardy, Ray McDonald and Jonathan Dwyer.
Vikings star running back Peterson, Carolina defensive end Hardy and Arizona running back Dwyer are on a special commissioner’s exemption list and are being paid while they go through the legal process. McDonald, a defensive end for San Francisco, continues to practice and play while being investigated on suspicion of domestic violence.
As these cases have come to light, such groups as the National Organization of Women and league partners and sponsors have come down hard on the NFL to be more responsive in dealing with them. Congress also is watching to see how the NFL reacts.
In response to the criticism, the NFL announced it is partnering with a domestic violence hotline and a sexual violence resource center.
Goodell also said in a memo to the clubs late Thursday that within the next 30 days, all NFL and team personnel will participate in education sessions on domestic violence and sexual assault. The memo said the league will work with the union in providing the “information and tools to understand and recognize domestic violence and sexual assault.”
The league will provide financial, operational and promotional support to the National Domestic Violence Hotline and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
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I was ready to throw things at the TV listening to him…not impressed.
Next announcement will be something about “spending more time with the family.”
In addition to Goodell, the team owner’s are the ones who tell Goodell what to do. The owners need their a$$es chewed long and hard.
When I tried to close my eyes to listen to him, I could swear I heard Chris Christie (his new BFF) almost word for word expressing his regrets, foibles, and blind spots. He was definitely channeling the ghost of Crispy Creme. “Mistakes were made”, “I’m ashamed”, “I got it wrong”, “I shouldn’t have put my trust in some of what I heard”. He should have just said… “I’m reading off of a statement re-written by our PR department to express better contrition for all of you, since ya’ll weren’t satisfied enough the first time around”…That would have been more honest.
Fuck him. This is what you call a Friday night news dump anyway. And man, does he stink. He ain’t worth $42 million bucks…that’s for sure. Damage control doesn’t come cheap these days I guess.
His answer about keeping Mueller on as an investigator, regardless of his conflict of interest, wasn’t very satisfying an answer either. Tone deaf to the max.
And what was up with that guy who interrupted the news conference with yelling and weird behavior? Maybe he was put up to it by Goodell or the owners so that everyone would be talking about that instead of his empty comments.
Eh, when in doubt…form a commission to study the matter. As if there isn’t enough research out there about domestic violence. What a jerk.
The problem starts at the NCAA level. College athletes (lets call them professional college athletes) are given far too much leniency towards their assorted bad behaviors. Schools should expel athletes found guilty of sexual assault, girlfriend beating, and other crimes, and the NFL should not draft them.