NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith said the suggestion by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that he is resistant to neutral third-party arbitration regarding player discipline is a "non-starter" for the union. Appearing on NBCSN's "PFT Live" Thursday night prior to the season-opening Steelers-Patriots game, Smith said, "If there's anything that we learned from Judge (Richard) Berman's opinion ... it is that the role of the league office as an arbitrator just hasn't worked. We've been proposing to have a neutral arbitrator really since 2010, and until the league makes a decision that their leadership wants to have a neutral arbitrator, I don't know if we'll have one.” NBCSN's Mike Florio proposed neutral arbitration "in exchange for giving the NFL the power to suspend players who obstruct NFL investigations, because we learned from Judge Berman last week they don't have the power to suspend." Smith said, "That's a possible deal. We believe that every player, just like every employee, has a duty to reasonably cooperate with an investigation, and if that's something that wants to come out of the league office and they think that's a good grounds for making a deal, I'll come back and shake your hand on live TV if we get it done.” Florio noted the relationship between the league and the union is "never supposed to be great," but it is "as bad right now as it seems." Florio: "Can it get any worse?” Smith: “Yes, it can always get worse. But I think that we're not in a place now where we need to be. Roger and I take our roles as stewards of the game for our fans and for our players very seriously. I think that when there is this rift between the players and management that it impedes our ability to have constructive conversations about the business of football" ("PFT Live," NBCSN, 9/10).
TIME TO MEET IN THE MIDDLE: NBC’s Bob Costas prior to the start of Thursday's game noted the NFLPA "negotiated the very clause in the CBA that allows Roger Goodell to act as judge, jury and appeals officer," but that "doesn’t mean that such a system makes sense." Costas said, "Despite his recent missteps, many of those within the game and many of those who cover it consider Roger Goodell to be a good man with good intentions. Count me among them. But here is the irony: Commissioner Goodell often talks about protecting the shield without in any way minimizing the serious misconduct of some NFL players. Right now, it’s the league office that is tarnishing that shield." He said pursuing an appeal in the Tom Brady case, one the league is "unlikely to win, would only provide an encore in this Deflategate theater of the absurd." Costas: "Here instead is the sensible course: Forget the appeal and engage in meaningful talks with the players’ association to craft a disciplinary system that works. One that is in no ways soft on misbehavior, but one that assures fairness and, most important, impartiality" ("NFL Kickoff 2015," NBC, 9/10).
PRESENT DESPITE HIS ABSENCE: NBC's Al Michaels just before halftime of Thursday's telecast noted Goodell was not at the game, as he "opted not to come and (is) watching on television." Michaels: "You sort of understand it. You can argue both sides of it. I’ll tell you one thing, if Judge Berman showed up, they would parade him around the stadium in a sedan chair.” The Gillette Stadium crowd midway through the fourth quarter broke into a “Where is Roger?” chant. Michaels said, “If he came to the game tonight, where are we going to put him?” Collinsworth said, “Right in the middle of that crowd” ("Steelers-Patriots," NBC, 9/10). In Phoenix, Dan Bickley writes the NFL "needs a new commissioner." Someone the players "can trust," and someone who is "not afraid to attend a season opener" involving the Patriots. For "too long, the sport has been dominated by crisis, courtrooms and negative headlines." Goodell’s "reign over the NFL is a growing crack in the shield." His past five high-profile disciplinary cases "have been overturned in court," and he has "few allies among the players." His handling of Ray Rice "bordered on incompetence." His penal system is "erratic and absurd, and a new season begins with 26 players on the suspended list." He "gets booed wherever he goes." Goodell has "lost the authority and credibility to rule" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 9/11).
