Ray Rice scandal could lead NFL to make needed, crucial changes

Ravens running back Ray Rice committed an unspeakable horror when he beat his then-fiancee, now wife, Janay Palmer. The NFL, the Ravens, and everyone else involved handled this incident the wrong way, but as counterintuitive as it may seem, the NFL might actually end up becoming a better league because of the blunders. 

I say this not because the Rice scandal helps the league’s reputation, but because it should serve as a wake-up call for the league as to how to navigate scandals such as these. 

In the NFL, players receive punishments that are completely arbitrary. Recently, Browns star wideout Josh Gordon received a season-long ban (since reduced to 10 games) for marijuana use. Cowboys lineman Josh Brent, however, who was found guilty of intoxicated manslaughter after killing a teammate while driving drunk, is serving the same 10 game penalty. 

The Rice scandal has been the most recent disaster for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who appears to have little concept of a reasonable course of action. Goodell either failed to do his job by not discovering the video of Rice dragging his wife out of an elevator or he saw the video and proceeded to handle the matter incorrectly. 

Goodell’s image is in even worse shape now because sources have indicated that law enforcement officials sent the NFL the video of Rice punching his wife months ago. Not only that, but while deliberating over the suspension, Goodell ruined the testimony of both Rice and his wife by having them testify sitting next to each other, contrary to protocol for the handling of domestic violence cases, indeed, any deposition, whether the case be civil or criminal. Goodell’s bungling of this issue has made it obvious that he should not be commissioner for much longer.

But even with this situation, there is a reason for optimism. Every revolution needs a spark, even if it comes out of awful circumstances. Hopefully, Rice’s scandal will lead to Goodell’s ousting, which will correct what has been the worst reign of any commissioner in professional sports in, at least, the last half century. 

We can only hope that a new commissioner will come along and actually address the major problems facing the NFL. The new commissioner would need to continue Goodell’s focus on making more money for the league and its teams, while also acting in a more appropriate manner when dealing with disciplinary and safety issues.

Football appears to be in a decline because of player safety and disciplinary issues. The mechanisms for penalties in the NFL need serious reworking and it’s going to take a new commissioner with something to prove in order to get it done. Punching your wife—or anyone, for that matter—in the face cannot carry only a third of the punishment levied for a second violation of the marijuana policy. The NFL needs to punish domestic violence abusers more harshly because Rice is not the first (and unfortunately, probably not the last) player to be a domestic abuser. The league has to send a message. Multiple players each year run into disciplinary issues. The Rice incident is not a lone event of its type or magnitude, it is simply the most visible.

None of these problems can be fixed overnight, but over time they can be revisited and improved. If there ever was a time to drop Goodell, it would be now. Maybe his replacement will have the spine necessary to improve the league and correct its more egregious errors. 

Hopefully, NFL’s next comissioner will bring change to the league that has been well known for legal violations and disciplinary problems. The Ray Rice scandal may be a stark exposition of the NFL’s deficiencies off the field, but it may  just the catalyst we need in order to bring a revolution to the United States’ most important sporting institution.