Tale of the Tapes: NFL’s Power Struggle Introduction The multi-billion dollar industry that is the National Football League (NFL), is on the losing side of the constant Tug-of-War between self-interest and mutuality of interest. For decades, the NFL’s only concern was ensuring high revenue and return of profit with little social responsibility. Due to social media and viral videos, however, social responsibility has become a focal point in mass media. Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the NFL, knows this all too well. His undefined authorities overseeing the NFL, particularly pertaining to player “conduct issues”, currently have him under fire. Recently dubbed “The Enforcer” in 2012 by Time Magazine, Roger Goodell has been praised for his …show more content…
In the beginning of the NFL, players were only punished for violating gambling policies. Paul Tagliabue’s, Roger Goodell’s predecessor, tenure as commissioner resulted rare suspension for off-field issues. The NFL policies and discipline have only recently changed to a coercive and legitimate power governed by the reigning NFL commissioner. Since the start of Roger Goodell’s reign, discipline for off-field conduct has dramatically risen. Goodell has strengthened his resolve by implementing an unprecedented personal conduct policy in 2007, to be followed throughout the …show more content…
Many have attributed this to the pursuit of his own, personal interests, therefore conforming within the Individual Level of the Three Levels of Political Action. Being that he is the commissioner, we would expect there to be a heavier concentration on the coalition level which is a cooperative group pursuit to a specified solution of a specific issue. As mentioned previously, Goodell is receiving negative backlash due to the fact that he continues to suggest that disciplinary control should remain under his personal control. Looking at the Degrees of Empowerment, we can see the early progression of Goodell’s power. At the time of Rice’s first punishment, Goodell maintained an Authoritarian power over the league, as he imposed the decision he saw fit at the time, uncontested. Only after criticism from the public did we see his Authoritarian power develop into the Influence sharing stage. At this time, he knew he would have to change the punishment in order to avoid backlash. This stage progressed to Power sharing after Goodell appointed Tagliabue. At this point, Goodell was sharing his power with
In the essay “The NFL’s Head Cases”, the main issue is wondering how to enforce the rules of safety for the players. The commissioner for the NFL gave out fines to
The spectator of this sport has an obligation to the players of the sport, to make sure that the organization is protecting and looking out for them. Yet not only should the viewer be held accountable for the lack of communication in consequences between the player and the pro scene, but the organization of the NFL needs to make sure that their players have a full understanding of what is going on and how they need to protect the players. The current situation that is understood, contents contain implied knowledge that all parties of this table are in uniform knowledge and agreement to what comes of playing football. Finally, this should also happen at the youth level when kids are just getting into the sport, as it would better inform the parents and the kid if they understood the full
Though this NFL conduct is in the light, it is unnecessary because the U.S. criminal justice system has the ability to end the professional sports careers of society’s worst criminals. Everyone asked themselves how could such a successful, talented person throw their opportunity away like this? Crimes from the past always catch up and come to light in the justice system. The NFL from now on is trying to prevent incidents like this from happening from making their off field standards stronger, and making consequences stronger that come with
This paper will discuss the NFL Concussion Scandal and analysis of the ethical issues regarding the scandal. American football has always been defined as a contact sport. Individuals know before playing the sport that they take on the risk of physical harm to their bodies. However, concussions and other repetitive head-blows could end in death and permanent damage. Also, American football has been shown to be the cause of chronic traumatic encephalopathy(CTE), which can lead to suicidal thoughts, memory loss, and dementia. With players undergoing a lot of physical harm without the proper care, many may see the NFL as an unethical business.
Regarding the Dewan Smith-Williams case they’re goal to me is to protect the brand and not to protect the husband from himself and his high risk behavior to his wife and family because they didn’t want her to go to the police and keep it silent. I think Mrs. Williams made the right call to come forth and let it be known that spouses and/or partners are being treated unfair and something needs to be done. In my opinion, maybe if fans, anti-violence groups and women’s rights organizations get together and organize a plan that could force the owners to enact stronger and lasting reforms to improve the NFL actions and response to domestic abuse. They should make some amendments to the personal conduct policy. This topic relates to the discussion on human behavior because we want to know what causes the domestic abuse from the spouse especially if the abuser is in the NFL, a super star, and fame is growing and so forth. Find out what area of treatment and theory practice could be used to help the
Player safety has been an issue for the National Football League since the start of the league, but has taken on a greater importance in recent years. Now, when a player is injured after a play, he must sit out for at least one play to allow the team’s trainer to assess his injury and make sure he is fit to return to play. Many say the NFL is very invested in player safety, and the protocols recently introduced have drastically changed the way athletes are assessed and eventually released to return to the field. These changes were necessary in order to protect players from serious injury and long-term health issues. There are many possible reasons the NFL has increased its emphasis on player safety, including, many people are disturbed by the violence of the game, fewer kids are playing football at the youth and high school levels, league sponsors are worried about bad publicity, and there are lawsuits against the NFL dealing with the long-term effects of brain damage. These reasons make many ponder, “Does the NFL really care about player safety, or are they just saving themselves from bad public relations, and the detrimental economic effects that may result from them?”
An increasingly popular topic in the realm of sports fans has begun to unravel. The National Football League recently has begun to introduce new rules and regulations for their athletes to start abiding by to ensure the continued safety of the player’s health. Although most find this change in the game of professional football as a positive step forward, others see this as a diminishment of the sanctity of NFL football. New rules and regulations that have been introduced into NFL are vital to athletes involved in the sport and help them to play with lowered risks of long term injuries that could possibly affect not only them but also the league in the future as well. The reasons for these
The court system may have allowed many of these players to walk away from very serious crimes with inadequate punishment while the NFL’s response did little to discourage criminal behavior. Because of this, the first part of the solution lies with the judicial system to begin holding players accountable to the same standards as the average American citizen. Michael Vick served just a year and a half behind bars in a state that routinely sentences individuals to five-year terms for the same crime (Humane Society). In the case of O.J. Simpson, a jury of his peers allowed him to walk out of a courtroom a free man despite compelling
When Ray Rice’s video went viral, it caused all of us to examine what this is really all about. It's given visibility to a problem that's been there for a long time. The NFL has a strict new policy in dealing with domestic-violence offenders, college football coaches are being held publicly accountable when they allow domestic abusers to remain on their teams, and sports as a whole has helped bring America's dirty little secret out into the public mainstream. No, there wasn't justice in the Rice case, but we did gain a tremendous amount of consciousness from
In today’s NFL, injuries, particularly head injuries, have become a common occurrence regardless of the amount of preventative training that the athletes invest in. These reoccurring head injuries have led to the deaths of former players and yet, instead of their families accepting that it was the player’s decision to continue playing, they somehow choose to blame the NFL as if the NFL committee were the ones creating the injuries to happen or forcing them to play through it. The NFL isn’t to blame for concussions sustained while playing the game because the coaches, medical staff, and players allow continuous play, creation of financial aid programs, new injury policies, and new equipment technology.
In the legal case of The National Football League Players Association, on its own and on behalf of Adrian Peterson, v. National Football League; National Football League Management Council, Commissioner Goodell uses his absolute power in regards to the constitution and the CBA to uphold the suspension of Adrian Peterson. Goodell used the August 2014 memorandum when deciding Peterson’s punishment. Which meant that Peterson would be suspended for a minimum of six-games without pay. Goodell cited that the severity of the abusive incident merited the long suspension and Peterson’s continued lack of remorse for his actions. The NFLPA appealed Goodell’s decision and Goodell used his power to appoint an independent hearing officer. The NFLPA argued that
The players and teams receive too much leeway when they are involved with crimes or misconducts. They have a “distorted view of themselves” (White) which induces them to “overvalue their abilities and are proud and condescending when relating to others” (White). The league is responsible for investigating and taking action against the players and teams that do not follow the NFL Personal Conduct Policy which the league describes as avoiding “conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the National Football League” (ESPN). This is required to be accepted by all workers in the NFL: players, general managers, coaches, owners, sideline/team employees, and even game officials. Roger Goodell, because of his title and job description, is delegated to be the “the judge and the jury in individual cases” (Pease). This responsibility he has is not a wise way of handling cases because there needs to be some sort of committee involved in order to give a thorough, well balanced, opinion and
Roger Goodell didn’t respond the way Brown wanted him too. So now Brown took this situation to new measures and continues this attempt on to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC revised the policy, Brown urged them to revise it, he says; “even though the NFL is the world’s most profitable sports league, every year it imposes
Whether it be baseball, football, soccer, or basketball, sports are appreciated not only in America, but all over the world. One of these sports that is particularly popular in America is Football. The immense crowds of people who sit at a stadium or on the couch to watch a game never fail to recognize every single play on the field; however, many fans pay little to no attention to one of the most important components of the game, the player-association relationship. When signing a contract with an NFL team an NFL player is effectively dedicating his life to his new organization. His duty is to play for his team in order to make the organization money, and money they make. In the NFL last year “each team received $226.4 million” (Brady 1).
On June 12, 2008, NBA commissioner David Stern addressed the media during a press conference regarding former referee Tom Donaghy’s claims that two “company men” made sure the 2002 Western Conference finals reached a game seven (Stein, 2008). In a letter filed to a U.S. district judge, Donaghy accused referees of fixing games and of not making certain kinds of calls on the star players to meet the best business interests of the league. Donaghy has pleaded guilty for conspiring with gamblers and currently faces up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine (Beck, 2008).