Goodell has been under fire as of late for his “unnecessary” role in the NFL’s attempt at bringing down the NE Patriots and exposing their “history” of cheating. Fans, players and owners have felt that Goodell’s involvement was too much and disrupted the integrity of the game he claims to love so much. Well, he seems to have answered that question and more at his first press conference today since the Brady ruling. Goodell told the media that he’s willing to reduce his role in the disciplinary action against players under one condition, under his rules.
“Yes, I’m very open to changing my role in that,” Goodell said on ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike Tuesday morning. “It has become extremely time consuming and I have to be ready to be focused on other issues. That’s what I have discussed with many owners over the last couple of years. We believe that a discipline officer or some type of panel, who could make at least the initial decision and then a designee of mine on some type of appeal would be a better system.”
“But we also have some resistance to a third-party arbitration. We believe that the standards of the NFL are important to uphold. We believe that you don’t delegate that responsibility, or those standards. We think that somebody with a deep knowledge of the game and our policies and our rules are important, particularly when it comes to competitive violations.”
Basically he’s saying no one is going to mediate that he doesn’t feel comfortable with. Someone said this, I can’t remember who it was exactly, but I don’t understand why Goodell and NFL executives along with NFLPA go to a resort on an island and pick and choose a disciplinary action committee that everyone can agree on. It can’t be that hard to find some consistency within this league and stop the petty feuding.
H/T: USA Today