The NFL's on-field promotion of breast cancer awareness began with Thursday's Vikings-Packers game, and the program "is a noble and worthy cause," but by "painting itself pink for the next four weeks ... the NFL gets to pretend it cares oh so greatly about women while ignoring yet another opportunity to educate and inform about domestic violence," according to Nancy Armour of USA TODAY. The NFL "has announced no plans to deck itself in purple, raise money for domestic violence programs or even ask fans to support their local shelters." It "will air some PSAs, consult some more with that panel of experts" that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell "belatedly compiled and call it a month." Plastering purple ribbons on the field, goal posts and players' helmets "won't end domestic violence," but no one "has as big or bright a spotlight as the NFL." Armour: "When it trains its glare on something, it makes a difference" (USA TODAY, 10/3). In Orlando, George Diaz wrote the NFL has "been tone-deaf when it comes to domestic violence," and it now has "30 more days to step gingerly across its fields of hypocrisy." The league has "gotten a free pass for years on its sweet pink marketing marriage that is etched in green," but "even if you are good with that, it's difficult to reconcile the fact that the NFL is dismissive of other diseases that are just as insidious as breast cancer." Domestic violence "certainly isn't just an NFL problem -- that's a societal conundrum -- but the league seems to be inadvertently raising awareness for another serious condition: The heartbreak of becoming colorblind" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 10/2).
ACROSS THE POND: THE MMQB's Jenny Vrentas wrote under the header, "Why London? And Can It Work?" The NFL is selling London to sponsors, fans and the team owners "who will ultimately determine how far the league’s stake overseas goes." The NFL’s international future "comes back to one question: Could an NFL team in London really work?" Vrentas cites NFL research as showing that the fan base in the U.K. "is a newer one, averaging around 26 years of age." That is compared with "around 45 for the average fan in the U.S." Vrentas also "surveyed 50 fans on Regent Street" last Saturday and at Wembley Stadium on Sunday for Dolphins-Raiders "to get a sense of who the NFL’s overseas fans are and what they care about." Thirty of those polled "considered themselves fans of one specific NFL team, while the other 20 said they were fans of the league overall." About 60% "would prefer a collection of games in London featuring different teams," and about 40% "want a permanent London-based team" (MMQB.SI.com, 10/2).
THE ARBITRATOR: In N.Y., Michael O'keeffe writes former U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones, who the NFL and NFLPA on Thursday announced will hear and decide Ray Rice's appeal of his indefinite suspension, was "known as tough -- but even-handed -- during her tenure as a federal judge in Manhattan." She "may be just who the NFL needs to dig itself out of the worst crisis in its 94-year history" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/3).
