The U.S. Senate Commerce committee yesterday denied that Chair Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) explicitly accused the NFLPA of opposing yesterday's hearing on sports and domestic violence. After an NFLPA representative testified, the senator said, before letting the next witness testify, "There was an enormous amount of pressure coming from many directions, not necessarily the folks at this witness table, but folks that you work with, not to have this hearing.” According to the committee's spokesperson, that did not constitute the senator accusing the union of trying to undermine the hearing. The committee spokesperson then offered a new statement from Rockefeller that read, "Until this morning, the NFL Players Association refused to testify at this hearing. I’m glad they ultimately saw this is an important discussion, but it seemed to require singling out their unusual refusal before NFLPA reversed course and agreed to participate" (Daniel Kaplan, Staff Writer). In DC, Marissa Payne noted Rockefeller has a "long history of being critical of the NFL," but he "never provided specific examples of the 'pressure' he spoke of." He did, however, along with "several other senators on the bipartisan panel, dig into the NFL and the NFLPA about its handling of the Ray Rice incident and other domestic violence cases" after both NFLPA Deputy Managing Dir Teri Patterson and NFL Exec VP/Football Operations Troy Vincent gave their opening testimonies. Reps of other leagues were there as well, including NBA Exec VP/Social Responsibility & Player Programs Kathy Behrens and NBPA Exec Dir Michele Roberts; NHL Associate Counsel Jessica Berman; NHLPA Special Counsel Steve Fehr; MLBPA Labor Counsel Virginia Seitz and MLB Exec VP/Baseball Operations Joe Torre (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 12/2).
UNDER FIRE: USA TODAY's Steve Berkowitz notes senators from both parties said that there have "been many things" the players' unions from each league "have not gotten right concerning domestic abuse incidents." The NBPA's Roberts recently called the 24-game suspension of Hornets F Jeff Taylor for domestic violence "excessive, without precedent and a violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement." Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) told Roberts her words on the matter were "disgusting." Ayotte said league and union officials should not "hide behind the collective bargaining process" went it comes to domestic violence. As the nearly 2 1/2-hour session drew to a close, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said the "takeaway from this hearing" would revolve around the NFL's handling of the Rice case (USA TODAY, 12/3). Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) said, “It is clear to me that getting these players back on the field was more important than addressing incidents of sexual assault, domestic violence or even children abuse." THE HILL's Sarah Ferris noted Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) "criticized the leadership of the leagues for handing out 'completely inadequate' penalties for players who have abused their partners" (THEHILL.com, 12/2).
WHERE ARE THE LEADERS? In N.Y., Steve Eder notes no league commissioners appeared at the hearing -- "a point that drew the ire of Rockefeller." He said in his opening statement, “When witnesses refuse to show up and testify, my experience tells me that they are afraid of something. Given the scope and severity of this problem, I find their absence troubling" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/3). Behrens did tell the committee that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was "leading NBA owners and executives on a long-planned trip to India this week" (THEGUARDIAN.com, 12/2).
