The domestic violence incident involving Ray Rice has "raised fresh questions about whether sports leagues should take more responsibility for domestic violence involving their athletes, and impose harsher penalties when presented with compelling evidence," according to a front-page piece by Karen Crouse of the N.Y. TIMES. National Coalition Against Domestic Violence interim Exec Dir Ruth Glenn said, "The other leagues had better be paying attention. They need to demonstrate to society that there is zero tolerance against domestic violence. Changing culture takes a while. But you have to start somewhere." The major sports leagues "have policies allowing them to impose discipline for illegal conduct or actions detrimental to the league." The NHL said that it "applies these guidelines case by case." Under the NBA's policy, players "believed to have engaged in violent conduct must undergo a clinical evaluation and, perhaps, counseling." A violent felony conviction "results in a 10-game suspension and counseling." MLB's basic agreement "says that a player charged with sexual assault or domestic violence must be evaluated by a neutral expert and enter a treatment program." Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence Communications Coordinator Kelly Starr said that the pro sports leagues "should adopt" a policy that exists in some workplaces in which an employee reported for domestic violence "is suspended with pay during the investigation" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/12).
GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION: SI.com's Grant Wahl reported the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, the NBA’s Adam Silver, MLB’s Bud Selig and MLS' Don Garber "asking them to make public their policies on domestic violence." Garber: "We’ll respond to the committee with our policy. We as a league stand very strongly with our players union to have a zero-tolerance policy for racism, homophobia and violence of any kind. ... I’m proud to say in the 19 years of MLS there has never been a reported incident of player domestic abuse." He added that all MLS players "participate in preseason training with a counseling expert who visits every club and educates players on avoiding potentially harmful situations on and off the field" (SI.com, 9/11).
MLB TAKES CASE-BY-CASE APPROACH: Selig on Thursday said that MLB and the MLBPA "have previously discussed the idea of a blanket policy regarding domestic violence during collective bargaining, yet so far baseball has opted to handle any issue on a case-by-case basis." Selig: "It has been discussed, because we're sensitive to all issues. But I'm not going to sit here and (hypothesize). Fortunately we don't have that issue in front of us. But we deal with all issues." The AP noted talks about a policy "could come up again in the next collective bargaining, but Selig leaves office Jan. 25 and Rob Manfred takes over as commissioner." Selig: "We haven't had any cases I'm happy to say for a long, long time. I can't remember when the last time was. I'm grateful for that. But we deal with situations as they occur" (AP, 9/11).
