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The NFL's Compliance Fumbles

By Ryan McConnell and Michelle Jee
October 02, 2014

Last month, the NFL told Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice he couldn't play professional football anymore, after a horrific video surfaced of Rice punching his then-fianc' (now wife) in an Atlantic City hotel elevator in February 2014. Previously, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had given Rice a very light two-game suspension without pay, while talk shows and commenters debated the punishment and what it said about domestic abuse and the standards of conduct required for NFL players. Meanwhile, Rice entered a pretrial intervention program with the goal of dismissing the third-degree aggravated assault charges against him.

The NFL is a $9 billion organization, and its players not only represent the league and its respective teams, but also serve as role models in communities across the United States. As the Nike commercials suggest, fans who buy jerseys of their favorite players, after all, want them to stand for winning, sportsmanship and excellence on the field ' not domestic abuse, drugs or any other criminal activity. In other words, bad player conduct poses reputational risk for the league and impacts financial performance. Many NFL players are ambassadors to the brand and only build on the league's image of professionalism and sportsmanship ' Denver's Peyton Manning and Houston's J.J. Watt come to mind.

Managing Risk

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