Nobody wanted a controversy-free Super Bowl week more than NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, but the ball deflation scandal engulfing the New England Patriots has ensured a rocky end to the league’s annus horribilis.
The NFL boss cannot be looking forward to the end of any season quite as much as this one, after a year from hell in which the sport was dragged through the mud and his own place at its head called into serious question, but following the revelation that 11 of the Patriots’ 12 game balls for their AFC title game against the Indianapolis Colts were deflated significantly, Goodell’s credibility is under yet more scrutiny heading into the biggest week of the year.
An investigation is well underway, yet with both Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady denying any misdeeds, the 31 other teams, as well as sponsors and supporters, are closely watching how Goodell deals with a team that has already been stained with the mark of cheaters after being found guilty of videotaping opponents practices in 2007.
That case resulted in a $500,000 fine and the loss of a first-round draft pick, but the year-long suspension handed out to New Orleans Saints’ coach Sean Payton is fresh in the mind and Goodell will be under pressure not to be seen to favour one of his close allies in Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
The Patriots appeared blindsided by the accusations, with press conferences on Thursday by Belichick and Brady failing to convince, but the head coach was back at the podium again on Saturday with a far more robust defence of the Patriots that has put the pressure squarely on Goodell and his investigators to come up with conclusive evidence that will satisfy a skeptical public.
It’s just the latest unwanted file to land on the commissioner’s desk during a season he surely can’t wait to be shut of, and despite overseeing a period of unprecedented and continuous growth (revenues for 2014 are expected to approach, if not exceed, the $10billion mark), Goodell’s integrity has taken a massive hit this season after mishandling a series of scandals.
The most serious issue to appear in Goodell’s inbox this year has been domestic violence and it is one which he has consistently failed to get under control.
Preseason began with two incidents hanging over the league, assault allegations against Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy and Baltimore Ravens running-back Ray Rice.
Goodell’s biggest mistakes surrounded the Rice incident. Rice was suspended for two games for hitting his wife in a casino elevator in Atlantic City in February, but when website TMZ released CCTV footage of the incident in September, the Ravens released Rice and the league suspended him indefinitely. The NFL and Goodell claimed not to have had access to the elevator footage when making their initial adjudication but that hasn’t washed with the public, many believing that at best the league was negligent in its investigation and at worst downright dishonest about its knowledge of the tape’s existence. A mealy-mouthed press conference did little to stem the flow of public opinion against Goodell, nor did an investigation by former FBI director Robert Mueller after it delivered a mere slap on the NFL’s wrist.
While all this was going on, Hardy was convicted of assault in July yet played in the Panthers’ opening game before being deactivated and placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List, a fancy term for paid leave.
And, as the league desperately scrambled to get on top of the issue, putting a new minimum domestic violence penalty of six games in place, the hits kept on coming. The San Francisco 49ers made few friends by letting defensive end Ray McDonald play on during an investigation for an incident involving his fiancé. No charges were filed, but the 30-year-old found himself in trouble again in December for another alleged assault and this time was released.
Worse still were the allegations of child abuse surrounding former MVP Adrian Peterson. One of the faces of the league, the Minnesota Vikings tailback was found to have badly beaten his son with a tree branch. Peterson claimed he was brought up to employ ‘a switch’ as a form of discipline, but the images of bruising on the youngster horrified those already losing faith in the NFL’s image. A grand jury opted not to pursue charges but Peterson, like Hardy, ended up on the Exempt List, where he collected his full $11.75million salary.
And domestic abuse isn’t the only issue hammering the NFL’s image. There were accusations of double standards when Colts owner Jim Irsay was found guilty of driving while intoxicated and admitted an addiction to painkilling medication. Irsay was kept away from the team for six games, yet Cleveland wide receiver Josh Gordon ultimately served a ten-game ban for just barely testing positive for marijuana.
There are the ongoing issues of the treatment of concussions and the growing campaign against the Washington team’s use of the derogatory term Redskins. On the field, controversial decisions helped swing a pair of play-off games involving the Dallas Cowboys, with the appearance on owner Jerry Jones’ party bus of league officiating chief Dean Blandino sparked a frenzy of conspiracy theories.
Oh, and remember former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, accused of murdering up to three people? Well, the trial for the first of those charges is set to start on Tuesday – Super Bowl Media Day.
You’d think the aggregate of this would sound the death knell for Roger Goodell’s stewardship of the NFL, yet he retains the support of the majority of his employers, the 32 team owners, and was paid a staggering $44million in 2013, primarily the reward for his role in ever-increasing revenues and ratings but also in recognition of his position as a shield of sorts for all this flak currently being directed at the league.
Goodell will now be hoping an innocent explanation is found for ‘Ballghazi’ and that the Super Bowl ushers in a less eventful 2015 and runs off without any more off-field incidents, on-field screw-ups or half-time malfunctions (we’re looking at you Katy Perry).
