Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL), has been quoted incessantly this past year regarding the game’s integrity. Most recently this past Tuesday, when he was a guest on the Rich Eisen Show, Goodell was asked whether he has spoken to Tom Brady during the ongoing Deflategate case.
If you are unaware of what that entails, you can read the report by the now infamous Ted Wells here.
In short, it was an investigation into the air pressure in footballs and if they were deflated beyond league measurements, to give the New England Patriots a competitive advantage against the Indianapolis Colts in the 2014 AFC Championship game. He replied, “…I have to make sure we continue to do the things that are necessary to protect the integrity of our game, and I will do that without compromise.”
The integrity of the game? Let’s focus on that first word: Integrity. It is defined as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.
PSI: Checks
It became known this past week that the NFL did spot checks all season on the proper inflation of footballs as part of their newly instituted protocols. They did these checks randomly to make sure all teams were following protocols.
This was Goodell’s response on the Rich Eisen show when asked, “On if the NFL conducted a scientific test to measure footballs and PSI throughout this season?”
“What the league did this year was what we do with a lot of rules and policies designed to protect the integrity of the game, and that’s to create a deterrent effect. We do spot checks to prevent and make sure the clubs understand that we’re watching these issues. It wasn’t a research study. They simply were spot checks. There were no violations this year. We’re pleased that we haven’t had any violations and we continue the work, obviously, to consistently and importantly enforce the integrity of the game and the rules that are designed to protect it.”
When followed up by Tom Curran of Comcast Sports Network of New England during his yearly State of the address, asking, “…what constitutes a violation?” and “…demanding some transparency of what the numbers were and what the standards will be going forward” to be released on this new protocol. He got a similar, equally evasive answer, without actually addressing the question.
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If Goodell is so hell-bent on integrity, don’t you think he would have released the collective spot checks they implemented this past season, especially if it was in the league’s best interests? However, merely meant as a deterrence, according to the commissioner’s report.
What? Goodell has appealed to a federal second district court regarding the supposedly deliberate deflation of footballs, compromising the leagues’ integrity, and they did not think to keep the results of a season’s worth of air pressure measurements as evidence?
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Nine-Billion-Dollar Empire, Non-Profit Designation
Did Goodell worry about the integrity of the NFL when the league took all the tax advantages of a federal non-profit designation while building a nine-billion-dollar empire? Non-profits by definition are “a corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the public without shareholders and without a profit motive.”
The NFL is a profit machine and looking to extend their tentacles. They have already sold out the three scheduled games in London next year and have another game scheduled in Mexico. Furthermore, relocating the St. Louis Rams back to L.A. was widely financially motivated. As the video below states, money rules. Moving the Rams to the second-largest media market inevitably means more revenue opportunities.
The league office is not directly where all the money goes, but split among the thirty-two franchises. Yes, as of April of last year (2015), the NFL dropped the non-profit designation. However, how do you explain Goodell’s $44 million salary reported as of March 2013 as the CEO of a non-profit? Seems rather contradictory.
Accepting Taxpayer Money to Honor Veterans
Did the NFL care about their integrity when they accepted money from the Department of Defense? Eighteen NFL teams received a total of $5.6 million of taxpayer money over a four-year period to honor veterans through military tributes such as “salute to service,” among others.
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The NFL spun this as helping our country recruit. Isn’t that nice of them? A conglomeration that “owns a day of the week”, Sunday, needs $5.6 million to help spread the word to join the nation’s armed forces. Would not the moral thing be to aid our country by providing a service utilizing its power for good, for free, without the need for profit? Maybe they could have used those donations to fund veterans’ organizations.
Misconduct On the Rise
Fines for misconduct, defined as improper or unacceptable behavior, the antithesis of Goodell’s mission for the league, have more than doubled the previous two seasons, including multiple incidents of domestic violence, recreational use of drugs, and numerous infractions violating the league’s performance enhancing drug (PED) policy.
In February of 2014, Ray Rice was caught on video surveillance knocking his then fiancée out cold. He received a two-game suspension. After receiving backlash, when a video surfaced, the NFL banned Rice indefinitely and retooled its Personal conduct policy. Later that same year, Greg Hardy, then a Carolina Panther, was arrested for choking his then-girlfriend, throwing her on top of a futon full of rifles and, according to testimony, threatening to kill her. Goodell talked about getting his house in order in September of 2014.
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After a year of paid leave, the NFL reinstated Hardy in 2015 and the Dallas Cowboys signed him later in the offseason. He was then originally suspended for ten games, but the suspension was reduced to four on appeal. Hardy played his first game October 11, 2015, against the New England Patriots, but pictures released weeks later showed the graphic assault Hardy committed. He continued to play.
Obviously, Goodell was just telling everyone what they wanted to hear back in September of 2014, but his actions say otherwise.
Currently, there is an ongoing investigation of one of the league’s franchise faces, Peyton Manning, for the alleged use of HGH (Human Growth Hormone.) This makes another black eye looming on the league and the commissioner who said, “I have to make sure we continue to do the things that are necessary to protect the integrity of our game, and I will do that without compromise.”
Goodell, what exactly are you doing to protect the integrity of the league? It just seems to get worse every day. It just seems like a lot of empty rhetoric and you hiding behind the shield while fattening your wallet.
