The NFL owners will meet in Dallas next week, and it is expected the league "will all but finalize a revised personal conduct policy," according to ESPN's Chris Mortensen. That sentiment was "conveyed to player union leaders Tuesday in a meeting that ended abruptly with the union walking out" after the NFL made clear it "has no plans to collective bargain a new conduct policy." It instead will "use its discretion to change the rules” (“Sunday NFL Countdown,” ESPN, 11/30).
TWO SIDES TO EACH STORY: NFL Exec VP & General Counsel Jeff Pash said the league is "working very hard” on developing a new personal conduct policy and noted it has had "a lot of meetings, not just with the Players’ Association, but with groups from all across the country.” Pash: “All of that input has been extraordinarily valuable to us in developing a policy that we think will be clear, fair, transparent, predictable and will help to set and reinforce the standards we want.” He noted the personal conduct policy “has never been a collectively bargained policy,” but any “changes to the disciplinary process would certainly require collective bargaining." Pash said the league is "fully prepared to engage in negotiations on any aspects" of the current CBA. But NFLPA Exec Dir Eric Winston said talks with the league “have really been a farce, it sounds like, since the beginning.” Winston noted Goodell initially “came out and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to work with the union, we want their input.’" Winston: "We started off a long time ago with some very quiet meetings that we thought were going well. 'Hey, this is going to be something good, this is going to be something that's bargained and any big changes would be bargained through this and we were finally going to get to a process that's fair and transparent for the players.' As this has gone along … it hasn't really been a bargaining session. It hasn't really even been any sort of discussion. It's been, ‘Hey, let's see what the players want and if we agree with them we’ll take that into account and everybody can be happy but if we don't agree with them then we're going to do whatever we want'” ("Outside The Lines," ESPN2, 11/30). Ravens DE and union rep Chris Canty said, "It shouldn't be an adversarial relationship between the NFL Players Association and the league office. I think we should be working together to find ways to improve the game to get the very best product for our fans. It's sad that's where the state of things are" (Baltimore SUN, 11/28).
BOTH SIDES NEED TO WORK TOGETHER: CBS Sports Network's Amy Trask said there "needs to be a clearly articulated codified policy that's consistently interpreted and consistently applied." While the NFL has "every right from a legal standpoint to say to the players that they are not entitled to participate in a collective bargaining process with respect to a new policy, the smartest thing the league could do is to extend a hand to the players and say, ‘We're putting legal issues aside, come formulate this new policy with us" ("That Other Pregame Show," CBS Sports Network, 11/30). In Baltimore, Peter Schmuck wrote what "needs to come out" of the Ray Rice situation is a "far more transparent and coherent NFL disciplinary system that sends a very clear message to players that a variety of serious offenses will be dealt with in a tough and consistent manner." The NFL and NFLPA "need hammer to out a clearly-defined disciplinary system with specific minimum and maximum punishments for a wide range of misbehaviors" (Baltimore SUN, 11/30). CBS’ James Brown said, “Arriving at a meaningful solution, a personal conduct policy, and enforcement ought not to be about a power struggle. This is too serious an issue -- domestic violence -- to not have a conduct policy and enforcement in place that is the result of a comprehensive, collaborative, no nonsense process between the league and the union." He added, "I just hope that together they won’t allow egos and power plays to derail this effort” (“The NFL Today,” CBS, 11/30). In N.Y., Mike Lupica wrote the NFL "needs to change the script on domestic violence, how it is dealt with going forward." Rice "might have won something" in having his indefinite suspension overturned, but if "nothing changes in the CBA, everybody will continue to lose" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/30).
