NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell this morning informed owners in a memo that the league had tapped three outside consultants, including Lisa Friel, the former head of the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit in the N.Y. District Attorney’s Office, to advise the league on domestic violence issues. Friel will directly advise Goodell on matters of player punishment for domestic violence and sexual assault incidents. Goodell also is changing the role of league exec Anna Isaacson, who was formerly in charge of community affairs, to now more fully encompass domestic violence issues. Her new title is VP/Social Responsibility. “In this new role, she will oversee the development of the full range of education, training and support programs relating to domestic violence, sexual assault, and matters of respect with the goal of accelerating our implementation of the commitments made in my letter of August 28,” Goodell wrote. He also promised owners in the memo more changes at the league office were coming soon. The moves come in the wake of criticism Goodell has received for his handling of the Ray Rice case. The three consultants are Friel; Jane Randel, the co-Founder of No More, which Goodell’s memo described as a national initiative to raise the profile of and normalize the conversation about domestic violence and sexual assault; and Rita Smith, the former Exec Dir of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “Friel, Randel and Smith will work closely with me, Anna Isaacson, Deana Garner, and others in our organization on the development and implementation of the league’s policies, resources and outreach on issues of domestic violence and sexual assault,” Goodell wrote. Garner is the Dir of Player Engagement & Education. He added the league continues to work with Kim Gandy, president of the National Network to End Domestic Violence; former New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey; Esta Soler, founder of Futures Without Violence; and Kim Wells of the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence (Daniel Kaplan, Staff Writer).
RIGHTING A POTENTIAL WRONG: ESPN's Adam Schefter notes the NFL was initially criticized for the fact the "people in the room making the decisions for the NFL were not coming from the world that they were debating about." Schefter: "There were no women involved in those decisions. The NFL is taking steps here to promote a woman and appoint a woman who know this world, come from that world and understand that world better than the NFL does and are more in touch with that world." ESPN's Jay Crawford said these were "corrective steps" (
"SportsCenter," ESPN, 9/15). Politico's Mike Allen, who this morning reported the NFL was
hiring outside advisers and counselors on domestic violence and planned to increase its in-house staff, said the league realizes "they haven't led on domestic violence." Allen: "They know they need to ... reassure Capitol Hill, reassure their fans" (
"Morning Joe," MSNBC, 9/15).
