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Leagues and Governing Bodies

Goodell Reiterates NFL Tried To See Second Ray Rice Video, Calls Images "Sickening"

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell yesterday broke his silence on the latest developments in the Ray Rice situation, speaking to both CBS News for a piece that was previewed last night on "CBS Evening News" and presented in full today on "CBS This Morning" and USA Today. Goodell reiterated to CBS' Norah O'Donnell that no one within the league's offices had seen the video showing Rice hitting his then-fiancee, Janay Palmer, inside the elevator at the Revel Casino prior to it being posted on TMZ Monday morning. He said of that video, "We were not granted that. We were told that that was not something we would have access to. On multiple occasions we asked for it and on multiple occasions we were told, 'No.' ... We will ask for any pertinent information that we can have access to, but we can't force them to provide any information." O'Donnell asked, "How is it that the NFL couldn't get their hands on this second tape but a website called TMZ could?" Goodell: "I don't know how TMZ or any other website gets their information. We are particularly reliant on law enforcement. That's the most reliable. It's the most credible and we don't seek to get that information from sources that are not credible." Goodell said when he met with Rice this summer to discuss the situation, it was "ambiguous about what actually happened." But O'Donnell referenced the initial video that was released and asked, "What was ambiguous about her lying unconscious on the floor, being dragged out by her feet?" Goodell: "There was nothing ambiguous about that. That was the result that we saw. We did not know what led up to that." Rice was initially suspended two games before he was indefinitely suspended by the NFL on Monday, and O'Donnell asked Goodell, "Did you really need to see a videotape of Ray Rice punching her in the face to make this decision?" Goodell: "No, we certainly didn't. I will tell you that what we saw in the first videotape was troubling to us in and of itself, and that's why we took the action we took. ... What we saw yesterday was extremely clear, is extremely graphic, and it was sickening" ("CBS This Morning," 9/10).

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DIFFERENT STORY WAS INITIALLY PRESENTED: Goodell when talking to USA TODAY's Christine Brennan said that Rice and his representatives "told him a different story about what happened in the Atlantic City elevator than what he saw" on the latest video. While Goodell "would not reveal those details, he called them 'ambiguous.'" Goodell: "There was no ambiguity when you saw that tape. It was sickening. It was appalling. It was clear that it was not consistent with what they presented to us in the hearing and we needed to take the right step, which is to indefinitely suspend him." Goodell said of attempting to retrieve the second video, "We asked for it on multiple occasions. We asked law enforcement, and they were not willing to provide it. I think they were under some legal requirements not to provide it, as I understand it." Paul Loriquet, the spokesperson for New Jersey Attorney General John Jay Hoffman, said of the video, "It's grand jury material. It would have been improper -- in fact, illegal, -- for the Atlantic County prosecutor's office to provide it to an outside/private/non law-enforcement entity." Goodell said that even though he had "seen the first video, his interview with Rice and his representatives guided his decision-making." Asked if he was concerned about his job security, Goodell said, "No. No. I'm used to the criticism" (USA TODAY, 9/10).

MISSED OPPORTUNITY?
 In N.Y., Mike Lupica writes Goodell during his interview with O'Donnell "did what I wanted him to do and what I thought he badly needed to do, which was not hide behind his lieutenants and statements from the league office, but speak directly to all of us." However, because of his "botched handling" of Rice's assault, it is Goodell who "looked guilty on the Evening News." Goodell has "become the face of this thing" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 9/10). In Baltimore, Peter Schmuck writes Goodell "would have been better served to borrow a page" from a letter Ravens Owner Steve Bisciotti sent out "to the team's seat license holders and sponsors on Tuesday" (Baltimore SUN, 9/10). THE MMQB's Andrew Brandt wrote beyond his sit-down with O’Donnell or statement from the league’s PR staff, "we need to see a more personal" Goodell, the one "behind the corporate facade." The customer base is "looking for more than a commissioner here; we want to see a vulnerable person, a father of two girls, who admits to mistakes throughout this episode that he has learned from" (MMQB.SI.com, 9/9).

WHEN YOU ASSUME, YOU....: ESPN’s Mike Greenberg said Goodell during the CBS interview "used the word ‘assume’ and then he said, ‘We were never granted that opportunity.’" Greenberg: "Both of those phrases trouble me because you don't assume there's a video. Everyone in the world knew there was a video. ... With a company like the National Football League and the steps they have taken in previous instances of significantly lesser magnitude than this, they have gotten ahold of many things that they were never granted the opportunity to see. So, to me, saying, ‘You were never granted the opportunity,’ is another way of saying, ‘We didn't try all that hard to get our hands on that tape.' ... The notion that they only get tapes of this kind from credible sources is ridiculous” ("Mike & Mike," ESPN Radio, 9/10). FS1's Rob Becker said, "There's basically no explanation for why the NFL didn't ask the resort, ‘Please give us the tape,’ in which case clearly they would have been given the tape. You're left with the impression that they were happy to ask the police, and when the police said, ‘No, we're not going to give it to you,’ to leave it at that. To me, that’s the NFL, like a monstrous ostrich, sticking its head in the sand. That is not going to cut it and end the debate” (“America’s Pregame,” FS1, 9/9). ESPN's Roger Cossack: "There's just no way that I will believe that the NFL couldn't have gotten ahold of that video if they wanted to" (ESPN, 9/9).

UNDER REVIEW: Brandt, a former Packers VP, said that the NFL and teams "work together during investigations of allegations against players." In Baltimore, Fenton & George in a front-page piece note NFL security, "typically made of former federal law enforcement agents and team security officers who previously worked in local police agencies, use contacts they've developed in their prior professions to ferret out all available information." Brandt said that it would be "'naive' to think an organization as powerful as the NFL wouldn't exhaust all of its contacts to learn as much as it can" (Baltimore SUN, 9/10). The N.Y. Times' William Rhoden said there is "probably not evidence" the NFL saw the second tape prior to its release. However, there is "certainly reason to believe that a league that prides itself on its security, that prides itself on its connection to Homeland Security, that has former FBI agents working for them, former New York police -- you can't have it both ways. With all this security, either it's incompetence or it's a cover-up. I would give Roger Goodell the benefit of the doubt that maybe he didn't see it but I think that somebody in his circle ... saw it" ("CBS This Morning," 9/10). Sportswriter Jeff Pearlman said “The NFL hoped we had not seen the video. I think they prayed and hoped very hard this image would not get out. I think the odds that TMZ got it before the NFL -- I find it very hard to believe” ("Jim Rome on Showtime," 9/9). In Boston, Christopher Gasper wrote the NFL bet what really happened between Rice and Palmer in the elevator "would never see the light of day" and it "gambled that the public outcry over the league’s far too lenient two-game suspension for Rice announced on July 24 would subside." However, it "gambled and it lost." Gasper: "It lost respect. It lost dignity. It lost some of the shine on its precious shield the moment the heinous surveillance video was glimpsed" (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/9). 

MO MONEY, MO PROBLEMS: USA TODAY's Nancy Armour writes under the header, "Dollar-Driven NFL Sells Its Soul." The "bottom line is all that matters" to Goodell and NFL owners. As long as those "annual revenues keep climbing" toward Goodell's $25B goal, the NFL will "continue to sell its soul." And Goodell will "broker the deal without blinking an eye." If the NFL "didn't see the tape, or at least get a blow-by-blow description of it, it's because it didn't want to" (USA TODAY, 9/10). The N.Y. TIMES' Rhoden writes Goodell and other NFL execs "seem to have viewed Rice’s violence through the prism of corporate protectors whose first responsibility is to protect the shield." Goodell's "curious actions in the case have done the league and its owners a disservice." It seems he puts "protecting the league’s interests ahead of a rigorous pursuit of the facts of the case" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/10). In Sacramento, Ailene Voisin writes under the header, "Bottom Line All That Seems To Matter In NFL." The only thing Goodell "has protected during his tenure is the league’s lusty bottom line," and that is "not good enough." It is "time for Goodell to start acting like a leader and stop catering to the often-conflicting whims of his franchises. Otherwise, he should resign" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 9/10).

WATERSHED MOMENT: In Boston, Sean Leahy writes the handling of the Rice case is the "biggest embarrassment to the league during Goodell’s eight-year tenure as commissioner, and the NFL has major work to do to repair its image" (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/10). CBS Sports Network's Jim Rome said, "Neither the team nor the league could look any worse than they do right now, starting with the commissioner" ("Rome," CBS Sports Network, 9/9). The Baltimore SUN's Schmuck writes it is "just fine for everyone to be repulsed" by the images in the second Rice video. This will "long be remembered as a watershed moment of social enlightenment for the NFL and the rest of professional sports, and rightfully so." But "let's not be naïve." The NFL already "knew what happened and -- until Monday -- they were content to let Rice come back ... in two weeks and begin the long process of rebuilding his reputation" (Baltimore SUN, 9/10). 

NOT DONE YET: In L.A., Sam Farmer writes "another question" Goodell will have to deal with is what he is "going to do" with 49ers DE Ray McDonald, who was arrested recently for domestic assault. A league spokesman yesterday said McDonald's situation "remains under review" and 49ers CEO Jed York said he would not punish a player "until we see evidence something should be done or until an entire police investigation shows us something." The "biggest difference between the Rice and McDonald cases: The alleged assault involving McDonald took place at his home, during a birthday party for him -- and no video has emerged" (L.A. TIMES, 9/10). CBS' O'Donnell asked Goodell if the NFL has a "domestic-violence problem." He replied, "What we have are young men that are going to be unfortunately involved in this if we don't provide the right resources. One case is too many. One. What we have to do is go back and say, 'If we have one case, that's something we've got to address. If we have multiple cases, we have to change our training and our education to try to eliminate that issue'" ("CBS This Morning," 9/10). But in Tampa, Gary Shelton writes under the header, "NFL Historically Bungles Domestic Violence Cases" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 9/10).

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