Believe it or not, the NFL's new season is only three weeks in and already the organization has grabbed at least a year's worth of negative publicity — maybe more. At first the commissioner, Roger Goodell was once standing behind the NFL and how it handled situations but by early this week he was nowhere to be found. Fans and casual followers alike have been calling for Goodell to step down in light of five different cases of domestic violence involving NFL players. While Goodell maintains that he's not going anywhere, he did finally emerge for a press conference this afternoon.
The video tape of Ray Rice knocking out Janay Palmer in an Atlantic City elevator was the first and most glaring situation that seemed to smack of a cover up, and it was quickly followed by four more players facing serious allegations. Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was deactivated, then allowed to play, then deactivated once again due to an indictment for abusing his four-year-old son. Carolina defensive end Greg Hardy and Arizona running back Jonathan Dwyer are both accused of domestic violence situations and are on a special exemption list that allows them to still collect a pay check while trying to clear their names from the sidelines. Ray McDonald is still playing for San Francisco while his domestic violence investigation continues.
When Goodell finally spoke up today, he stated the obvious — the NFL has been "doing wrong" and the commissioner owned up to the fact that good behavior begins with him. Goodell will now personally handle and punish all personal conduct cases. The NFL will also be partnering up with a domestic violence hotline and a sexual violence resource center and all NFL employees will take part in education sessions on these issues so that there is an open dialogue within the organization.
While it's good that the league realizes that it has made mistakes in a multitude of cases, are these changes enough? Should Roger Goodell be pushed to resign from his position?
