“Why is it still rare for teams or team commissioners to sanction players involved in domestic violence”?
“MPR News host Kerri Miller spoke with Shawn Klein, the philosopher behind the Sports Ethicist blog, and Mary Jo Kane, director of the University of Minnesota Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, about ethics and pro sports.”
Mrs. Miller brings to light the complexity behind the rules and regulations set in place in order to handle professional athletes who may or may not have been convicted of a crime or penalty. Unless the athlete is charged with criminal misconduct only then can the sport league authorities handle the issue. Without those charges the boundaries are blurred and with just allegations it makes it difficult for decisions regarding punishment to be made.
“There’s a deep ethos in sports that they have each others backs,” said Miller. Meaning, players do not want to ‘rat’ each other out, so to speak. They typically have a strong bond and choose to stick up for one another despite the seriousness of a charge or action made by an athlete.
Although this discussion focuses heavily on domestic violence scenarios, the topic is still important to the overall discussion on ethics and how the use of them are implemented or utilized, if at all by sport league commissioners.
“Where do the governing agencies & the fans fit in?”
The Commissioner of the NFL Roger Goodell over the years has stressed the importance of fans and the future of the league. With the emphasis on these two aspects, athletes are not prioritized leaving room for discrepancies and misconduct to become more of an issue. It is ultimately a flaw in the system that creates a negative ripple effect that stems from the lack of responsible decision making by the owners/commissioner that in turn impacts the way athletes respond to things and how fans then view it and comment on it.
This next artifact comes from a Business, Government, Society blog, “a class offered at Bucknell University through the School of Management. As a discussion based class, the blog offers a unique opportunity to express our creativity through current events and to discover connections between themes in the class and our own interests. The beauty of the class is that while many blog posts touch on theories concerning ethics, social science, or business practices, the posts on this blog are all opinion pieces and there is no “right” answer.” This excerpt is to help give a little context into the background of the articles presented on this blog cite and the certain tones that they may have.
Written by Michael Wald on November 11, 2012 is an opinion piece on the ethical state of the NFL (National Football League). The article points out many ways in how the commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell has changed league policies and/or added regulations in the league to prohibit misconduct that could severely injure players. Most notably was implementing stricter procedures to help eliminate concussions. This shows a sense of ethics as this type of decision making involves the safety of players; however, the NFL still has a long way to go in developing a stronger sense of morals. “This paper will touch on the success of the NFL business model as it relates to ethics and address the question of whether the league and Roger Goodell have sacrificed too much in the way of player safety, player retirement, and the fan experience.” The article was published in 2012 so there have been changes since but the fact that the commissioner is still the same and the drive for reaching revenue goals is also the same means there is still room to grow. It is difficult to respectably do what is right for a team and for athletes when a lot of money is constantly at stake. This should not be the mentality though. There needs to be a better balance between the two. There should be more instances like Goodell creating a better concussion plan but in regards to punishing players and making sure the punishments are actually fair instead of worrying about how much money may be lost if a certain player is not actively playing and so forth. This is ultimately the ethical dilemma that the NFL faces.
“Yes, there seems to be an ethical dilemma in professional sports that is much bigger than just the game.”
Why is an ethical dilemma so important to be aware of, especially in the context of professional sports leagues? Well, it comes down to fairness. If ethics were not involved in the sports world then each sport and games would ultimately be unfair. Certain players would have more of an advantage over other players with less of an advantage and that is not the right way to determine a winner or successful play.
The Public Relations Student Society of America posted an article on September 21st, 2017 on their blog site titled, Ethics in Professional Sports. The article keeps the messages short and sweet, it is how to combat an ethical dilemma while working within an organization constantly facing controversy over ethical decision making. Providing a 4 step process that includes: addressing the situation immediately, letting the public know what is being done, making the tough calls, and finally moving on. Each step seems easy enough but sports and ethics can be challenging. I want to know, do commissioners utilizes steps like these? And are they really making the best decisions for the team or for the money? This article does not address the nitty-gritty that goes on behind the scenes or in the decision making process, these steps are common sense so it seems, but even PR professionals need to know the details.
“Do what is best for the game and the fans for the long term.”
Following Super Bowl 48 in 2014, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell gave a postseason talk to discuss the main focus of the season to follow, that focus was on ethics. A bit controversial and even hypocritical Goodell answered the questions of the audience members being sure to emphasize the concern for the future of the league.
“Sometimes those decisions aren’t so popular but they are always done in the best interest of the league.”-Roger Goodell
So what about the athletes? Goodell was quick to include the value of understanding everyone’s perspectives; however, it seemed as though he really only meant the fans and league members. The way he speaks in this video shows that there is still a lack of ethics to be had. The way he talks and who he refers to the most speaks for itself in that he really focuses on the income. What is going to be best for the league in terms of money. Now as important as money is in maintaining this big organization, the heart of the organization is the game itself and the players who play it. Even if revenue were to decrease, there will always be people watching, loving and enjoying the game, no matter the sport. To focus strictly on income takes away from the humanity of the sport and neglects the athletes and what is best for them.
The finally artifact here is a more in-depth look into specific cases involving an ethical dilemma. These two cases are crucial to the overarching issue that proceeds all commissioners and specifically Mr. Goodell…that maybe they have to many duties and too much money to make the right calls.
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An opinion piece posted by Brian S. Lassiter in 2014 adds to the ongoing discussion regarding how sport league officials, mainly commissioners poorly handle athlete misconduct. The article provides two examples of cases where the NFL had the opportunity to speak up sooner rather than later and make better decisions. The two cases concerning Ray Rice and his domestic violence abuse towards his girlfriend and Adrian Peterson’s child abuse scandal unfortunately were not handled properly, at some point the NFL made grave remarks in suspension policy changes following these two cases, however; Lassiter hit the nail on the head with this statement, “on the one hand, the Vikings got it right (which falls under the “there is never a wrong time to make a right decision” philosophy). But they got it right for the wrong reasons, calling into question the team’s leadership and decision making process.” Lassiter’s remarks are similar to Michael Wald’s opinion in his article pertaining to the ethical state of the NFL. Both writers acknowledge the fact that the NFL needs to find a better way to align their goals for the future of the league and still maintain the safety of the athletes and the disciplinary actions towards them.
Maybe add in how from 2014 to now much has not changed…use Antonio Brown for example?
Overall thoughts… in the National Football League ethics is a key competent to player safety, game fairness, fan experience and responsible decision making. These are all key features to the organization that are certainly ‘easier said, than done’. As a multi-billionaire corporation, the NFL is at the end of the day, a business. And one thing businesses love more than anything is money. Something that is worth thinking about in terms of the future of the NFL is the importance for fans to see the flaws in the system and maybe there would be a better chance for some more responsible actions to take place.