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Leagues and Governing Bodies

DeMaurice Smith "Cautiously Optimistic" Roger Goodell's Disciplinary Role Will Be Altered

NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith on Thursday said that the union is “'cautiously optimistic' that it will complete a deal with the league regarding changes to the system of player discipline and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s role in it," according to Mark Maske of the WASHINGTON POST. Smith during the NFLPA’s annual Super Bowl week news conference said, "If we’re unable to reach a change, then our job as a union is to simply protect the player and fight the cases as we’ve done in the past." Maske notes the union is "seeking independent arbitration of discipline imposed by the NFL under the sport’s personal conduct policy and integrity-of-the-game rules." Currently such appeals "are heard and resolved by Goodell or a person appointed by him." Goodell has said publicly that he is "receptive to potential changes to the player-discipline process but he is not willing to surrender his authority to resolve appeals in such cases." NFLPA President and Bengals OT Eric Winston: "When you get into the idea of when you start talking about the initial investigation, when you start talking about the initial punishment to the appeal, there’s a lot of layers of the onion to peel back there" (WASHINGTON POST, 2/5).

A PERFECT FIT: In N.Y., Dan Barry profiles NFL Special Counsel for Investigations Lisa Friel, who is "responsible for investigating alleged violations of the league’s personal conduct code: domestic violence, sexual assault, animal cruelty, blackmail, extortion, racketeering, disorderly conduct, you name it." She emphasizes that the adjudications or dismissals of court cases "do not dictate the outcomes of her own inquiries, which some officials in the players’ union find at times to be overzealous." Her job, which is "intended to establish much-needed consistency in the league’s handling of misconduct cases, is at the center of a decidedly alpha-male environment." But Friel, a Giants season-ticket holder, "sees it as a twinning of passions, 'a perfect fit.'” In addition to her 28 years with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, Friel "worked for a security company as a vice president for a division specializing in investigating and consulting on sexual misconduct." She said in taking the position with the NFL, she saw another opportunity “to do something that really mattered" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/5).

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