The National Football League has dealt with numerous off-the-field problems this season, but believe it or not, the problem getting the most attention is definitely not a new one. The only reason why this problem of domestic violence is getting more attention than ever is because of a video.
Roger Goodell and the NFL took a stand against the ongoing problem of domestic violence in the league simply because of the Ray Rice elevator video TMZ released.
The second video should have changed nothing, but it ended up changing everything. The facts of the case remained unchanged, and the NFL and Goodell all knew Rice assaulted his then fiancee in the elevator after seeing the initial footage of Rice dragging her limp body out of the elevator.
So why did it take video evidence of what happened in the elevator to increase the suspension?
After Rice's original two-game suspension was released, there was some public outcry about how it is unacceptable a player who assaulted a woman gets only two games while players who take Adderall get suspended three times the amount of games. But after a couple of weeks, it seemed like the NFL was actually going to not only get away with the joke of a two-game suspension, but also escape their ongoing domestic abuse problem.
The NFL made this strong stance against domestic abuse only because this was the first time one of their players has been caught on video hitting a woman. Once again, the video changed everything.
According to USA Today's NFL Arrests Database, since 2000, 77 NFL players have been involved in 85 domestic violence incidents. Of those cases, six players received one-game suspensions, and Rice was only the second player to be suspended for two games.
In 2005, nine NFL players were arrested for domestic assault charges and only one of those players received the strict one-game suspension. Domestic violence is by no means a new problem in the NFL.
The NFL was always able to escape their ongoing domestic violence problem because the league always had complete control of the problem. It didn't matter 77 of their players were involved with domestic abuse. The fact none of them were caught on video is the reason why the public never got control of the problem.
The NFL is a moneymaking machine. No matter how many players were involved with domestic abuse before Rice, the problem never got out of the NFL's control because video never got out.
Losing sponsors means losing money, therefore, once money became an issue for the NFL, they knew they had to finally make a stance against domestic violence by suspending Rice indefinitely.
It's too little, too late for the NFL to make an actual, genuine stance against domestic violence.
You're not fooling anyone, NFL. Video evidence of the ongoing domestic violence problem that caused financial problems is the only reason why the stance was made.
Kyle Van Fechtmann is the assistant sports editor at The Plainsman. He can be reached at sports@theplainsman.com
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