Rice suspended 2 games

Commissioner’s decision rankles some

Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice walks off the field after a training camp practice, Thursday, July 24, 2014, at the team's practice facility in Owings Mills, Md. (AP Photo)
Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice walks off the field after a training camp practice, Thursday, July 24, 2014, at the team's practice facility in Owings Mills, Md. (AP Photo)

As training camps open across the NFL, Commissioner Roger Goodell has started to hand out suspensions to players -- starting with a two-game ban for Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice -- and potentially owners for various instances of bad behavior in the offseason.

As in years past, it has highlighted the immense power the commissioner has to adjudicate and the penalties he has assessed, but the suspensions have attracted more notice this year because Jim Irsay, the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, may be one of the people penalized. He was arrested in March on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and later had his driver's license suspended for a year.

The treatment of Irsay will be watched closely by players who want to see how Goodell handles a case involving an owner, one of his bosses. His handling of Rice's case was immediately questioned, too.

Goodell suspended Rice on Thursday for the team's first two regular-season games for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy.

The suspension stems from Rice's arrest in February after an altercation with the former Janay Palmer, his fiancee at the time, in an elevator in Atlantic City. The couple married, and video of the incident surfaced later. Rice was charged with felony assault, but he is in a pretrial intervention program and will not serve any jail time.

Rice also was fined $58,000, and he will forfeit nearly $500,000 of his salary.

"As you acknowledged during our meeting, your conduct was unquestionably inconsistent with league policies and the standard of behavior required of everyone who is part of the NFL," Goodell said to Rice in a letter released by the league. "The league is an entity that depends on integrity and in the confidence of the public, and we simply cannot tolerate conduct that endangers others or reflects negatively on our game. This is particularly true with respect to domestic violence and other forms of violence against women."

Some players, women's advocates and writers on social media noted that players are routinely suspended for more games for doing far less and that Rice deserved a harsher penalty.

Critics of Rice's suspension note that under the collective bargaining agreement, a player who tests positive for performance enhancing drugs will be suspended for four games. A second positive test would result in an eight-game penalty, while a third positive would mean a full year suspension. The league's drug policy, which also was collectively bargained with the player's union, leaves more room for players to join substance abuse programs before being suspended.

Goodell, though, has the ultimate power to determine penalties in other cases. On Thursday, Goodell took his cue from Rice's legal case, according to a league source. Rice will not go to jail and the initial felony charge was reduced to what amounted to counseling. Rice and his wife also appeared contrite, speaking publicly together and meeting with the commissioner privately.

"I believe that you are sincere in your desire to learn from this matter and move forward toward a healthy relationship and successful career," Goodell said in his letter to Rice.

Some of Goodell's other decisions also have raised eyebrows. For example, he suspended Terrelle Pryor for five games, the same number of games he would have had to sit out at Ohio State, where he took part in a tattoos-for-trinkets scheme.

"When you have a disciplinary policy where the commissioner controls everything, there will always be some inequities," said Robert A. Boland, who teaches sports law at New York University and was previously an NFL agent. "The players hate i,t and they argue that he is judge and jury."

Boland noted that in other professional sports leagues third-party arbitrators are used to hear appeals. In the NFL, the commissioner serves that role.

Rice can appeal his suspension within three days.

Goodell's judgment will remain in the spotlight. He also may suspend linebacker Aldon Smith of the San Francisco 49ers, who was arrested in April for making a bomb threat at an airport in Los Angeles. The charges were later dropped.

Smith also pleaded no contest to three felony weapons charges and two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence. This month, a judge in California sentenced Smith to community service, but no jail time.

Josh Gordon of the Cleveland Browns could face a suspension for reportedly failing a drug test for the third time. Greg Hardy of the Carolina Panthers was arrested in May on domestic violence charges and could be suspended.

Goodell's decision on Irsay may get the most scrutiny. Last year, team officials from the Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions were suspended after being caught driving while intoxicated.

Owners have been fined in recent years, but Edward J. DeBartolo Jr. of the 49ers was the last one to be suspended. That was in 1998 after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of concealing an extortion plot.

Sports on 07/25/2014

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