These are not happy times for the National Football Leagues. Television ratings are down, which is lethal for a league that depends so heavily on TV revenue to sustain itself. Ticket sales are down. The league faces long-term legal jeopardy because of concussions and other health problems suffered by retired players. Oh, and every Sunday a subset of the league's players insists on alienating at least half the fan base by kneeling for the national anthem while slandering police officers as racist brutes.
If not for the Vikings being in first place, this entire season would be a total trainwreck.
Goodell's arbitrary decision to suspend Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott for six games
Yet established people tend to be hard to dislodge in a league that circles the wagons around its own, so it was thought until recently that Commissioner Roger Goodell was safe, even with his contract about to expire, despite all the chaos. But maybe he's not as safe as was once believed.
Goodell is going to have a hard time getting a contract extension without the support of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and Jones has already served as a wrench in the gears on that one. But now Jones is furious about Goodell's arbitrary decision to suspend Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott for six games, and he's making no bones about the fact that he faults Goodell's judgment and his motives:
That's unusually harsh language for an owner to use in reference to the commissioner, even when he's talking about an action that's detrimental to his team. And yet it's hardly the first time we've heard this sentiment expressed concerning Goodell and his approach to player discipline.
Jones is right that the initial Ray Rice suspension of only two games for punching a woman in the face was a disaster for the NFL. The public's reaction was overwhelmingly negative, as people rightly saw it as an attempt to minimize such an act of violence. Goodell not only backtracked on the Rice decision, but in subsequent situations he seemed overly sensitive to the PR implications of his actions. His snap decisions to suspend Adrian Peterson and Tom Brady completely disregarded evidence and due process, choosing instead to leap at the harshest possible penalties so as not to face public criticism for being soft.
Although both suspensions were ultimately upheld by the courts, that was solely because the judges found Goodell had the authority to act so arbitrarily, not because they thought he was right in doing so. Too bad those players couldn't have drawn Judge Derrick Watson in their appeals.
The Elliott case follows much the same pattern. A story came out that Elliott has physically absued his former girlfriend. That is clearly a serious charge and it should be taken seriously, but Goodell did not approach it seriously. Despite no criminal charges and scant evidence, Goodell once again went for the PR score by announcing a six-game suspension so as to prove his bona fides as an opponent of domestic violence. The suspension might arguably be justified if Elliott actually did what he's accused of doing, but Goodell didn't bother to make sure that was the case. To this day we don't know if it is.
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So now the Cowboys have lost one of their most important offensive weapons at a crucial point in the season, and Jerry Jones is taking no prisoners in his assessment of how Goodell is handling such matters.
Is that going to be enough to make Jones a no vote for a Goodell contract extension? I don't think it would if the NFL was in good health. But it's not, and Goodell doesn't seem to have any answers. Jones seems to have been a Goodell skeptic even before his arbitrary action robbed the Cowboys of Ezekiel Elliott for the next six weeks. Why would he be any less so now?
For what it's worth, my wife believes she should be commissioner of the NFL. As long her office can be in Detroit, I think that's an excellent idea.
These are not happy times for the National Football Leagues. Television ratings are down, which is lethal for a league that depends so heavily on TV revenue to sustain itself. Ticket sales are down. The league faces long-term legal jeopardy because of concussions and other health problems suffered by retired players. Oh, and every Sunday a subset of the league's players insists on alienating at least half the fan base by kneeling for the national anthem while slandering police officers as racist brutes.
If not for the Vikings being in first place, this entire season would be a total trainwreck.
