The NFL this year has been an "unshakable steamroller of an industry that can’t seem to stop printing money no matter how many problems arise, how loud criticism gets about the league’s handling of those problems and how many times controversy ensnares one of the game’s marquee players," according to Tom Pelissero of USA TODAY. The league in the past 12 months "has been through domestic violence and child abuse scandals" and it has "gone to federal court with two of its most prominent players," Patriots QB Tom Brady and Vikings RB Adrian Peterson. There are times when the whole thing "seems less 'Hard Knocks' than 'Ballers,'" but the business of football "goes on, and it’s booming." Money "can’t solve all problems, but it sure is easier to swallow frustration and wear criticism" when total revenue is upward of $12B a year "and rising" (USA TODAY, 8/12). The Vikings-Steelers HOF Game Sunday night ended up being the most-watched preseason game in five years. In Topeka, Kevin Haskin writes, "Preseason games can be unbearable. Still, people watch. It is the NFL after all. Far from scandal-proof, but layered with Teflon" (TOPEKA CAPITAL-JOURNAL, 8/12).
GOODELL NOT GOING ANYWHERE: SI’s Peter King said NFL owners “are still solidly behind” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. It would require 25 owners “banding together" to remove Goodell. King: "I just don’t see it happening.” There are a “bunch of owners privately who look at the circumstantial evidence in the Brady case and think that Roger Goodell is doing the right thing.” Goodell gets paid his multimillion dollar salary “to take the mountain of garbage that comes down on his head when he has to make decision like this." King: "I sense no momentum to replace Roger Goodell” (“PTI,” ESPN, 8/11). In Boston, Dan Shaughnessy writes Goodell is "not in trouble" over Deflategate. The Ray Rice situation "was far worse for Goodell, yet last year was another cash bonanza and boffo ratings year for the NFL." No matter how "poorly he runs things, Goodell and his shield are bulletproof because the NFL is king" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/12).
