NEW YORK – Commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL wants to implement new personal conduct policies by the Super Bowl.
Goodell was short on specifics at a news conference Friday, his first public statements in more than a week about the rash of NFL players involved in domestic violence. More defiant than contrite as he was hammered with questions, Goodell said he has not considered resigning.
“Unfortunately, over the past several weeks, we have seen all too much of the NFL doing wrong,” he said in his opening statement. “That starts with me.”
The league has faced increasing criticism that it has not acted quickly or emphatically enough. The commissioner reiterated that he botched the handling of the Ray Rice case.
“The same mistakes can never be repeated,” he said.
Goodell said he would meet with NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith next week, and they would work with outside experts to evaluate the league’s policies.
Among the areas that will be examined is Goodell’s role in discipline. The commissioner now oversees all personal conduct cases, deciding guilt and penalties.
He will establish a conduct committee to review NFL personal conduct, seeking experts in the area of domestic abuse and violence to serve on it. Goodell’s role with such a committee was not directly addressed.
“Nothing is off the table,” he said.
One of the key questions is how to balance the league’s desire to take a stance against violent acts with the due process of the legal system. Goodell indicated the league is considering becoming “engaged” in the investigation process, while law enforcement still is handling its probes.
Goodell said he believes he has the support of the NFL’s owners, his bosses.
“That has been clear to me,” he said.
The commissioner and some NFL teams have been heavily criticized for delayed or lenient punishment of Adrian Peterson, Rice and other players involved in recent domestic violence cases. Less than three weeks into the season, five such cases have made headlines.
Carolina defensive end Greg Hardy and Vikings star running back Peterson are on a special commissioner’s exemption list and are being paid while they go through the legal process. Arizona running back Jonathan Dwyer was placed on the reserve/non-football illness list, meaning he can’t play for the team again this season. Ray McDonald, a defensive end for San Francisco, continues to play and practice while being investigated on suspicion of domestic violence.
Groups such as the National Organization of Women and league partners and sponsors have come down hard on the NFL to be more responsive in dealing with them. Congress also is watching to see how the NFL reacts.
NOW President Terry O’Neill reiterated her calls for Goodell to resign.
“NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, today did nothing to increase confidence in his ability to lead the NFL out of its morass,” O’Neill said in a statement. “What Mr. Goodell doesn’t seem to understand is that he should be aiming to make fundamental changes in the organization.
“Glaringly absent from Mr. Goodell’s remarks is a commitment to conduct an independent investigation into all of the incidents of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking on his watch.”
Rice initially was suspended for two games. After defending the punishment at first, Goodell admitted more than a month later that he “didn’t get it right” and announced tougher penalties for future domestic violent incidents.
Then when a video emerged of the assault on his then-fiancee, the Baltimore Ravens cut the star running back, and the league banned him indefinitely.
Goodell reiterated Friday that he didn’t believe anybody at the NFL had seen the video before it was published by TMZ. The Associated Press reported last week that a law enforcement official said he sent the video to a league executive five months ago.
Citing Rice’s appeal of his indefinite suspension, Goodell declined to specify Friday how the player’s description of what happened was “inconsistent” with what the video showed – the commissioner’s reason for changing his punishment.
The NFL asked former FBI director Robert Mueller to conduct an investigation into the league’s handling of the Rice case. The law firm where Mueller now is a partner, WilmerHale, has connections to the NFL. Goodell insisted Friday that it wasn’t a conflict of interest because Mueller himself has not previously worked with the league.
Goodell acknowledged he has learned that interviewing Rice and his now-wife together is an inappropriate way to handle a domestic violence case.
The commissioner declined to address whether any women were involved in the decision to suspend Rice for two games but conceded that’s “exactly what we’re concerned about.”
“We didn’t have the right voices at the table,” he said.
The NFL since has added domestic violence experts as consultants. It also announced it is partnering with a domestic violence hotline and a sexual violence resource center.
In a memo to the clubs late Thursday, Goodell said that within the next 30 days, all NFL and team personnel will participate in education sessions on domestic violence and sexual assault. The memo said the league will work with the union in providing the “information and tools to understand and recognize domestic violence and sexual assault.”
The league will provide financial, operational and promotional support to the National Domestic Violence Hotline and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
