Ethics and Crisis Management in Sports

Abstract
This paper examines the Ray Rice case and the importance of ethical behavior in the sports industry. Ray Rice’s career changed in that casino elevator in Atlantic City. During an argument with his girlfriend, Ray Rice, lost his temper and proceeded to punch and drag Janay Palmer out of the elevator. His actions not only changed his career, but also shed light onto the personal conduct policy in the NFL. The reputation of the NFL and its members was under a magnifying glass. Commissioner Roger Goodell, especially would face the ultimate challenge. As a result of this incident, the NFL revised its personal conduct policy to a more robust, thorough, and formal. According to the NFL.com, Commissioner Roger Goodell said, "We now have a layered evaluation process to take into account a diversity of expert views. This will better enable us to make appropriate decisions and ensure accountability for everyone involved in the process."

Ethics and Crisis Management in Sports
On February 15, 2014, both Ray Rice and his fiancé Janay Palmer Rice were arrested in Atlantic City, New Jersey after an altercation had occurred in the Revel Casino. Videos of the incident were released four days later by TMZ. On March 26, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, addresses the media about the incident and said that yes Ray Rice will face disciplinary actions when the investigation was fully complete. On June 16, Ray Rice has his disciplinary hearing with the NFL. On July 24, NFL suspends Ray Rice for 2 games. According to an article on SB Nation, Baltimore Ravens General Manager said, “As a league, we have a conduct policy,” Newsome said. “Being a member of the league, we will follow that A to Z. Up until we get to that point; he falls under the personal policy of the league. We will allow the league to take its position before we have to take any.” Newsome said he's seen the Rice video online "just like everyone and it doesn't look good.” On August 28, the NFL announced a new domestic violence policy. On that day, Commissioner Roger Goodell, according to an article on SB Nation, “admitted that he "didn't get it right" when he handed Rice a two-game suspension, and beefed up the league’s new domestic violence policy in reaction. He sent a lengthy letter to team owners outlining a six-game suspension without pay for the first offenses, and a lifetime ban for second offenses. The new policy will apply to all NFL personnel, including executives and owners. “I take responsibility both for the decision and for ensuring that our actions in the future properly reflect our values,” Goodell said. “I didn't get it right. Simply put, we have to do better. And we will.” After the second video of the altercation was released on September 8, the Baltimore Ravens released Ray Rice of his contract and the NFL suspended him indefinitely putting his football career on hold. On September 10, Commissioner Roger Goodell announces that he has no intentions of resigning as commissioner of the NFL. According to SB Nation, “The NFL commissioner received significant criticism for his handling of the situation and there have been calls for him to resign. According to a source, Goodell has no such plans and the source went as far to say Goodell will “never” resign.” That same day, the NFL announces independent investigation lead by former FBI director Robert Muller and will be over seen by New York Giants owner John Mara and Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney III. On September 16, Ray Rice appealed the indefinite suspension and the court date was scheduled for November 5 and 6. On that day, Commissioner Roger Goodell testifies in court. According to SB Nation, “Goodell ended up testifying for more than two hours in front of Judge Jones at Rice's appeal hearing. The commissioner was the first person called to do so, answering questions first from the NFL legal team and then from Jeffrey Kesler, a lawyer representing the players' union. Due to a gag order, no other information about Goodell's statements has been brought to light. A decision on Rice's appeal for reinstatement to the NFL is expected within days.” The next day, Baltimore Raven’s General Manager Ozzie Newsome testifies that Ray Rice came clean to Roger Goodell about the incident. According to SB Nation, Ozzie Newsome “provided what could be the key piece of testimony on the hearing's final day when he claimed under oath that Rice told Goodell during the June 16 sit-down that he hit Palmer in the elevator. Newsome's assertion seems to contradict Goodell's own claims that Rice was ambiguous during the meeting, and that he did not realize Palmer had been punched until the release of the second video.” On November 28, Ray Rice wins his appeal against the NFL and his indefinite suspension. A neutral arbitrator overturned Rice’s suspension, in the article it states that the NFL was forced to reinstate Rice and making him immediately eligible to sign with a team and resume playing. The arbitrator said that Rice did not lie to the commissioner during the June 16 meeting, making the upgraded suspension excessive and without cause. The commissioner's decision on whether the NFL was merely responding for damage control with the primary objective to protect the NFL was done wrong. Commissioner Roger Goodell has publicly admitted that he messed up on his ruling dealing with this case. That is why he created a stricter policy on domestic abuse. Just with this case, the NFL lost various corporate and local sponsors because of the domestic violence abuse generating a loss of revenue and tarnished the NFL brand name and its players for always getting into ethical problems. These situations will always costs the league money from their sponsors and their reputation as a league begins to tarnish because the league is mostly known for having undisciplined players. The league and Commissioner Roger Goodell had to take measure because these players earn millions of dollars and are literally heroes to many children that look up to them. These players should be held at a higher standard than normal people that commit these crimes.
Considered Ray Rice is a well-known public figure, the commissioner must handle the case fairly and justly. Otherwise, any unfairness or mild penalty could have a devastating and long lasting effect on the NFL and the public as well. The NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s first decision on suspending Rice for two game is a rush and light penalty since he did not conducted any investigation but made this decision merely based off the conversation with Rice according to the Wall Street Journal (Gay, 2014). This decision did not only cause the public to criticize him and the NFL for injustice and unfairness on its players who commit domestic violence.
Gay stated that a videotape showed Rice dragged his then-fiancé Palmer out the elevator after knocking her out to be unconscious in the Wall Street Journal (Gay, 2013). Although Goodell changed the penalty from two games suspension to infinity suspension after watching the video, it was too late to win back the fair and just reputation of himself and the NFL League itself from the public. As a commissioner, I would conduct a thorough investigation by the NFL investigators before making any decision. Although the Atlantic County Prosecutor approved Rice’s request for pretrial intervention program to avoid trial, the NFL would not use the courts’ decision as reference when deciding how to handle this severe violence case since the court and the NFL league are two different entities. The NFL ought the handle this case more carefully and fairly with Ray Rice is being considered as a celebrity, who might have relativity high and long-lasting influence on the public. For this reason, an athlete being a public figure should have received penalty than a normal person should have on his or her wrongdoing. After conducting a thorough investigation and hearing, the commissioner in my opinion should suspense Rice for ten games because his brutal and unethical behavior has caused large influence on the NFL and the public, and also set a bad example for other players in the league. The handling of and decision on this case could lead to the smoldering crises, “crises start out small and can be fixed early on, but instead are allowed to fester until they become full-blown crises and know to the public (Business Ethics and the Crisis Management Framework, pg. 197).” To avoid smoldering crises in the NFL League, I would not only heavier penalized Rice but also set up more severe domestic violence rules and regulations for the purpose of restricting other players from committing any kind of violence either inside or outside the games. Despite that Goodell recalled his first decision and then suspended Rice indefinitely, it was merely seen as the NFL’s urgent response to the public criticism on and concern about NFL League domestic violence policy. In other word, the second decision was to tell the public that the NFL cares and listen to the public rather than committing to fairly and justify handle Rice’s case. Suspending Rice indefinitely was too severe and prompt because in my opinion Rice was actually being punished more for the mistake that NFL has made to cause public criticism in the beginning rather than for his violent act. The NFL’s intention of making decision was wrong and not proper. Goodell could have protected the reputation of the NFL and himself if he have had handled the case more seriously and fairly in the very first beginning. From the videotape and the facts, Rice is considered a person who is not capable to control his emotion properly. If the NFL League would let such a person participate in the professional games in front of thousands of audience, then he is most likely to lose self-control of this emotion and then knock down his opponents on day. This would have a devastating influence on the NFL and, more importantly, on the public since Rice is a well-known public figure. Thus, it is too risky to let Rice continue playing professional games unless he has successfully taken a series of mandatory ethical and emotional control courses. Besides all these courses, Rice is also required to receive a certain period of time of professional counseling. If he refused to attend courses or receive counseling, he would be indefinitely suspended until he has successfully completed the courses and counseling requirements. Lastly, he must be evaluated by the professional counselors to determine his is eligible to return to the professional games. These regulations would not only protect the NFL players from violations but also deliver a powerful message to the public that the NFL is seriously concerned about the behaviors of each of its player inside and outside the games. Thus, NFL is worth to be supported and its games are worth to be watched. In my opinion, suspending Rice for ten games and implement the mandatory ethical and emotional control courses are certainly in the best interest for the NFL League and its players. One who has merely the professional skills is not yet qualified to play in the NFL, but he also needs to possess professional character.
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league consisting of 32 teams, divided equally between the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). The NFL is one of the four major professional sports leagues in North America, and the highest professional level of American football in the world (NFL 2015). The National Football League is an organization that attracts family fun and a friendly atmosphere. The NFL cares for its players, but more so the fans and providing an ultimate viewer’s experience. So when domestic violence occurs within the league, it can damage the overall brand and integrity of the NFL.
The Ray Rice incident could have fatally damaged the image of the NFL. After he knocked out his fiancé in an act of domestic violence, the NFL did the wrong thing and attempted to cover it up. This scandal placed a lot of pressure on the Baltimore Ravens franchise, and the NFL commissioner Roger Goodwell, which lead to the bigger issue of professional athletes being held more accountable for their actions since most of them are public figures and role models. (How Ray, 2014)
Domestic violence is something that has no boundaries that no one is immune from. 1 in 4 U.S. women and 1 in 7 men (aged 18 and older) have been victimized of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Anna Isaacson, Senior VP of social responsibility stated that “Our hope is to have an immense impact on society. We started with our internal NFL family, but our expectations are much broader than that. We absolutely feel that responsibility, that obligation to our society. Our idea is to be the leader in these areas.” The NFL understands how serious this matter is and has addressed it publicly placing supporting for those in need. (The NFL, 2014)
The NFL has placed several goals to prevent this from happening again and to holds its Athletes at a higher standard since there considered to be role models in the eyes of many. With the commitment driven by the right people in place and the support and participation of the full NFL family, the league hopes that this will be the beginning of the end of domestic. The NFL will learn how to get help for those within the NFL (players, coaches, staff and their families) who are impacted by domestic violence help to prevent it going forward. The NFL will also use its platform to work towards changing their social norms of shame, blame and unwillingness to discuss these issues out in the open. This will help the NFL fill in gaps of service that resulted directly from the high-profile nature of the domestic violence cases being dealt with in the NFL. (The NFL, 2014)
To hold the players more accountable, the NFL has updated its Personal Conduct Policy. After a series of domestic violence events (including Ray Rice’s incident) the NFL has strengthen its approach to discipline and accountability for players both on and off the field. The new set of rules are tougher, fair, clear and consistent governing player conduct and discipline. Because of the importance of DV, The NFL is also committed to using its platform to address domestic violence within society. The scrutiny of the NFL and the domestic violence issues (including Ray Rice) it faced caused them to support national and local organizations of those in need. Programs regarding abuse, development of the youth, and education are initiatives that have the potential to make a huge impact. The NFL has much to do inside the league and beyond to make real change in our society. (The NFL, 2014)

References
A complete timeline of the Ray Rice assault case. (2014, November 28). Retrieved October 26, 2015, from http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2014/5/23/5744964/ray-rice-arrest-assault-statement-apology-ravens
How Ray Rice Scandal Unfolded. (2014, September 19). Retrieved October 24, 2015.
NFL. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2015.
NFL owners endorse new personal conduct policy. (2014, December 19). Retrieved October 28, 2015, from http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000441758/article/nfl-owners-endorse-new-personal-conduct-policy
The NFL's response to domestic violence and sexual assault. (2014, December 5). Retrieved October 27, 2015.