On February 15, 2014, Baltimore Raven running back Ray Rice was involved in a physical altercation with his then fiancée, Janay Palmer, in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino. They were both taken in by Atlantic City police and charged with simple assault. Days later, TMZ released a video of Rice pulling an unconscious Palmer out of the elevator, and that’s where the scandal that would not only damage his reputation, but that of the NFL in its entirety began.

On the day of the video’s release, Dan LeBatard, a columnist for the Miami Herald, said that this would be one of the most damning abuse scandals in the history of sports. He was right, but for the wrong reasons and people.

After a meeting with Rice and Palmer, Roger Goodell, commissioner of the NFL, announced a two-game suspension for Rice, that both fans and critics of the league believed to be entirely too light. As a response to criticism, the NFL took up a more strict domestic abuse scandal: six games for a first offense, then a lifetime ban for following offenses. The new policy was a step in the right direction, no doubt, but was unable to stop the onslaught the NFL would face when the video of Rice hitting Palmer in the elevator surfaced on September 8.

When the footage was released to the public, outcry intensified immensely. The outrage that had slowly began to die down after Rice’s punishment was announced suddenly flared up to levels it had not yet seen. The NFL, in the words of the aforementioned LeBatard, “reacted to our reaction.” The Baltimore Ravens terminated Rice’s contract that afternoon as Goodell announced his indefinite suspension from the NFL.
Questions quickly began to arise, but one stood out above them all: Why did Goodell wait until the public had seen the video before punishing Rice in this matter? Surely, Goodell recieved the video before the general public did.

Shortly after coming under fire again, Roger Goodell said in an interview with CBS’ Nora O’Donnel that, “We had not seen any videotape of what occurred in the elevator. We assumed that there was a video, we asked for video, we asked for anything that was pertinent, but we were never granted that opportunity,” and that the new punishment was not a knee-jerk reaction to our reaction.

That’s incredibly difficult to believe, especially when the Associated Press released information from a law enforcement official who claims to have both sent the video to Goodell’s office shortly after the incident and received a receipt in the form of a twelve second voicemail confirming the video had arrived. On the voicemail, a woman’s voice acknowledges the arrival of the video and calls it “terrible.”

Maybe Goodell is telling the truth… There is a chance that this crucial piece of evidence entered his office and never made its way to him, but is that any better? Either Goodell is lying, or he is too incompetent to know what comes in and out of the office he takes so much pride in running.
Since Ray Rice’s indefinite suspension, a number of domestic abuse cases have appeared within the NFL. Carolina Panthers Defensive End, Greg Hardy sat out last week in a home game against the Detroit lions after being arrested for abusing his then girlfriend over the summer. Over the past two weeks, two more NFL players have found themselves in trouble over abuse. Minnesota’s superstar running back, Adrian Peterson was forced to sit out against the New England Patriots after being indicted for abuse and Jonathon Dwyer, an Arizona Cardinal, may face penalties after being arrested due to abuse allegations this past Wednesday. With the incredibly recent influx of domestic abuse scandals, it may be worth looking into the NFL to see if these past few months have been outliers, or if this has been happening all along and the NFL was sweeping it under the rug.
Some of these men were previously seen as role models. Adrian Peterson was someone to look up to because he was purely a product of hard work. Ray Rice was a respected member of the Baltimore community, and often took part in charity events.

This scandal has superseded Ray Rice. His crime was one thing, but the cover-up is always worse. Rice has been dealt with, but the man behind the embarrassing missteps and misuse of power is still strutting along in his forty-two million dollar a year job and is showing no sign of making a change.

Many people, as well as sponsors, have been shunning the NFL for their handling of the apparent outbreak of domestic violence. Billion dollar sponsor, Anheuser-Busch, issued a statement saying that, “We are not yet satisfied with the league’s handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code.” The Raddison hotel chain announced that it would no longer sponsor the Minnesota Vikings, Adrian Peterson’s team. Many fans have taken their cause to twitter, leading to the rise of “#BoycottNFL.”

Countless critics have called for Goodell’s resignation, including the National Organization for Women’s president, Terry O’Neal, who is quoted as saying that, “The only workable solution is for Roger Goodell to resign and for his successor to appoint an independent investigator with full authority to gather factual data about domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking within the NFL community and to recommend real and lasting reforms.”

It’s time we stop glorifying NFL players based off of their on-field performance alone. We need to take a closer look and determine who is truly worth the title of “role model,” and sponsors of the NFL have to be more critical of the organization, rather than blindly putting money in just to get money out. The recent outburst of mishandled domestic abuse cases involving NFL players is far from negligible. Regardless of how it may fight, reform is coming to the NFL, and if any one thing is certain, it’s that Goodell must go.