Good, evil and Roger Goodell

Today in the Miami Herald, Dan Le Batard has an op-ed complaining about the "bullying zeal" of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. He unloaded on Goodell after the commissioner suspended Cleveland Browns receiver Donte' Stallworth for a full season following his 24-day jail sentence for a horrible drunk driving accident that killed a pedestrian.

Le Batard thinks Goodell is acting like a dictator, issuing arbitrary rulings. "Fidel Goodell can continue to trample employees without anyone pushing back," he wrote, "But I don't know if what he's doing is more good than evil. I just know that it is popular and easy and doesn't appear to be working."

The commissioner's tough suspension policy "hasn't done much of anything to curb arrest numbers," Le Batard wrote. "More than 60 players have been arrested each of the past two years. That's about the annual average (more than 450 players have been arrested since 2000)."

There's an error in this argument, and it's the assumption that the commissioner's policy is intended to reduce arrests.

The commissioner's policy is intended to protect sponsors. It's intended to prevent Mothers Against Drunk Drivers from staging noisy protests that make beer companies uncomfortable about having their trademarks in the picture with NFL players. It's intended to keep car advertising a year away from the mental image of a fatal car wreck.

Roger Goodell has a tricky job. He has to calibrate the NFL's image just right: edgy enough to sell products to the 18-34 male demographic, but not so edgy that their mothers organize a boycott of league advertisers.

The NFL pays the commissioner $11 million a year to figure out how long Donte' Stallworth and Michael Vick and Plaxico Burress and Jared Allen have to be suspended before the public will say, "Well.... I guess anybody can make a mistake."

It's a little longer for killing dogs and pedestrians than for gunfights and DUIs. Shooting and drinking poll pretty well.

Dan Le Batard criticizes the NFL players' union for inadequately protecting the players from the commissioner's apparently arbitrary rulings. "This issue is something union insiders predict might result in a work stoppage when the next contract is negotiated," he wrote.

But the players don't have to go on strike to achieve a more reasonable league policy on suspensions. All they have to do is help the league out by giving the sponsors a little bit of cover. Players who get into legal trouble should try to look remorseful and do publicly visible charity work. It doesn't have to be heartfelt. It just has to sell.


Copyright 2009

Editor's note: You might be interested in the earlier post, "Tackling the NFL."

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