NFL: A Domestic Violence Problem

September 4, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; NFL commissioner Roger Goodell walks the sidelines before the game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

With scrutiny coming down hard against Roger Goodell and the NFL, it has to be stated that the NFL has a violence problem. Ray Rice is merely a figurehead to a greater underlining problem. This violent game (or once violent, many argue) seems to be taking its hard hitting battles off the field, and into the homes of players.

Roger Goodell took office on September 1st, 2006, taking over for Paul Tagliabue, who was in office from 1989-2006. Since Goodell became commissioner of the NFL, the number of arrests have been at an all-time high, despite Goodell’s judge, jury, executioner style of leading. Since 2010 only two sports have more arrests each year than the NFL. Those two are college football, which for the past five years and counting has stayed number one in arrest/citations. Also ahead of the NFL is college basketball, which until 2013 led the NFL before being overtaken. (Former players of all sports combined ranked top three since 2010 to today as well).

Football in general is a sport of aggression, but so are hockey and rugby. Since 2010 the NHL has had 12 arrests/citations. Rugby had six in that span. That ranks lower than TV personalities/sportswriters….who had 15 over that span. Still none of those spans even come close to the NFL’s best season of being good boys, their best year since 2010 was… 2010, with 20.

But it’s one thing to have arrest/ citations. You can get that for something as simple as forgetting to show up to pay a ticket (most recently Roddy White) to as complicated as what currently we are facing with Ray Rice, Greg Hardy, and Ray McDonald.

From 2013 to today (9-12-14), NFL players have been charged with 26 violent crimes, from battery, to murder, to the hot topic today, domestic abuse/violence.

Though domestic violence isn’t new to the world or the NFL, since Roger Goodell took office (2006) 43 cases of “Domestic Violence” have been filed against NFL players. For the specific reason of domestic violence, until recently, only Chris Cook had been suspended for that reason according to the league. He was hit with a 10-game suspension. Overall of those 43 cases, a grand total of 19 games worth of suspensions were handed out. 19 total games… despite the fact suspensions have been on the rise at an alarming rate, only 19 total games for Domestic Violence/Violation of League Policy in connection to domestic charges.

I mentioned that suspensions are on the rise. In fact, in 2006, only seven players were suspended for a total of 68 games (32 of them belong to Odell Thurman, and 16 to Ricky Williams). In 2014, already 39 players have been suspended for a total (as of now) of 178 games! We’re not even through Week 2 and that is over 2.5 times the amount of suspensions in 2006, when Goodell took over.

Now why are suspensions on the rise? There is no clear answer, only theories. Is it linked to an attempt to clean up the game? Very likely. Also consider that from 2012 to now, the NFL has saved $42,353,980 from suspensions alone, plus an additional $6,190,254 in fines for mostly on the field issues with some exceptions. That is a grand total of $48,544,234 saved by the league over the past two-plus seasons.

The evidence is clear: drug-related issues have been more important than domestic violence. So far in 2014 alone, a grand total of 160 games worth of suspensions have been handed out for drug-related offenses to a total of 35 players.

Though there will be changes to the league’s rule book soon, just something to think about: there have been 43 other cases of domestic violence for Goodell to pounce on outside of Ray Rice, two of which involved Brandon Marshall, and hundreds of drug-related offenses to ponder about since he became commissioner. Why, now, is change finally coming?