For example, Jerry Jones in responsible to hiring a general manager and other positions to help the Dallas Cowboys put a winning product on the football field, while he is also responsible for marketing his brand and making money off of it. In similar fashion, Goodell keeps order in the league by being the disciplinarian and handing out fines for illegal hits, suspension for substance abuse, and much more. But he is also responsible to making sure that the NFL, a multi-billion dollar business, is flourishing financially. That is his JOB.
Keeping this in mind, let's see why his job is in jeopardy. Over the past couple of years, the NFL has had many negative things associated with it. Going back to the BountyGate scandal followed by the Riley Cooper racial slur incident, the Aaron Hernandez debacle, and now this Ray Rice domestic abuse. This isn't even counting the SpyGate scandal that took place just as Goodell became commissioner.
Many people are looking at his handling of the Ray Rice fiasco and are very dissatisfied, and rightfully so. The biggest indictment against Goodell right now is that first of all, it has been proven that the second Ray Rice video (in the elevator), was sent to NFL offices back in April. This means either Goodell saw the video, or he chose to deliberately avoid it.
If he chose to avoid it, that would be pure ignorance and that is the basis he suspended Sean Payton for a year relating to BountyGate. If he saw the video, then he still personally thought it was suitable to hand down a two-game suspension, because the video was sent in April and the suspension was announced in July.
A very key point to keep in mind for everybody following this incident: Ray Rice has been cut from the Baltimore Ravens and indefinitely suspended from the NFL, not for hitting Janay Palmer Rice. The reason he was cut and suspended is because the video leaked of his action towards Janay. Roger Goodell deemed a two-game suspension just fine for the action of Rice hitting and dragging his then-fiancee.
And yes, Goodell knew that Janay had been hit. Nobody just goes into an elevator, slips on a banana peel and hits their head and becomes unconscious. Obviously, with Ray being charged with domestic violence on the spot, it was obvious that he had hit her.
Goodell is the commissioner of the leading sport in America. He is not stupid. Additionally, it is reported by ESPN Outside the Lines that Rice actually told Goodell in a meeting in June that he had punched his wife. The fact that after all that, Goodell still only handed down a two-game suspension is a little disturbing.
As if that wasn't bad enough for Goodell, on September 10th, the AP reported that Goodell did have access to the video in April (again, whether he chose to see it or not is unknown), but he had access to it. Goodell has vehemently denied that he had seen the video first of all, then also said the NFL did all they could do get the video but were not provided with it. According to the AP report, Goodell is definitely lying about the latter, and could also be lying about the former as well.
Now, as far as the issue of why did the video prompt an indefinite suspension while the action did not, there is a clear cut answer: It was a business decision. If Goodell doesn't do that, the NFL brand is in jeopardy of losing not only popularity, but also money if NFL sponsors decided to withdraw because of the lack of concern their customers would be showing towards domestic violence. I don't think the second video should have been the cause for a year long suspension. I think just the reported incident itself, along with the first video was more than enough to ban Ray Rice from the NFL back in February. But Goodell dropped the ball on that with his two-game suspension so he was just covering his you-know-what when he came out with the harsher rule, and then was just making a business decision when he indefinitely suspended Ray Rice.
Everything will be on hold for a little bit as the NFL is going through a private investigation. But through it all, Goodell will remain on the hot seat, and depending on the results, the NFL could have a new head-honcho here pretty soon.
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