What have been the NFL's biggest public relations problems in its history?
 

Honestly, I'm trying to get amped up over this Ray Rice deal, but it doesn't seem bigger than a lot of other stuff they've had to deal with over the years, and some other stuff seems bigger. Off the top of my head, I can think of...

The concussion issue and guys like Mike Webster and Joe Phillips
O.J. Simpson
Rae Carruth
Jovan Belcher (though that got scant attention the more I think about it)
You had the Hornung/Karras gambling suspensions back in the 1960s
The defections of players to the WFL in the 1970s
The AFL/NFL wars
The USFL tussles

I'm sure I'm missing a bunch.

It seems to me that the O.J. thing dwarfed everything else in scale, though of course most of that deflected off of the NFL shield since he'd been out of the league for so long. So what's the biggest impact that the NFL shield has taken?

Ray Rice for sure. Most of those other things were issues with players that didn't really reflect all that negatively on the league itself, other than the concussion thing. This situation though, has shown total amateurism on their part to properly deal with a situation. It's also exposed their punishment and suspension system to be a complete crap shoot, and their commissioner to be the total dumbass that he is.

Spygate.

Not the worst thing a player or other employee has done by a long shot, but the league itself looks really shitty right now.

Concussion thing is probably worse though. This is getting a bunch of run right now, but it's tough to say how lasting the effects will be. Especially if the league is proactive and cans Goodell.

! You left off the Broncos cheating to win the Super Bowl.

All the pink shit on uniforms for a whole month. It was never about breast cancer awareness, it was always about emasculating a sport men love.

Jeez. It's been a long day, obviously.

Michael Sam not making an NFL roster :(

Timmy Tebow sucking :(

This wouldn't be such a big deal except that Josh Gordon got suspended for a year while rice got suspended for peanuts and you have to think the NFL knew about it. Goodell is a ****ing clown. It's almost like he spins a wheel to determine punishment.

No female players or coaches :(

The new defensive pass interference rules. If Roger Goodell came out and admitted they were trying to grease the wheels for Peyton Manning to win a championship I would give him a tiny bit of respect.

Bringing a franchise to Kansas City :(

nb4 poll?

It doesn't matter. People talk about it then it falls off the map for the most part with the eye being focused back onto the field of play. That is the power of the NFL in the US.

Jeff Garcia never being able to come "out" openly

The Oakland Raiders :(

with TMZ and twitter and etc etc etc we're just gonna keep getting more, and more, and more, and more of this shit

I still don't understand how Riley Cooper can still play in the NFL after that racist video came out but two NBA owners who didn't use the "N" word can lose their teams but meh.

It's all overreaction America. If fail to see how on camera domestic assault is any worse than domestic assault that happens in the privacy of your own home but...ok.

Making up gay ass rules that make the game suck

How about every game being rigged so Peyton can win the Super Bowl. Or something. Amirite?

Since the NFL altered Ray Rice's suspension I think every NFL player who has ever been convicted of domestic assault needs to be suspended indefinitely, though.

Two weeks is about max for a big story nowadays


The NFL will recover. The appetite for football in this country is beyond insatiable

Probably because we can...you know...see it actually happen.

and?

Pretty sure a man hitting his spouse in his own home is no better than doing it in an elevator with a camera.

It's interesting to me how many people believe this. There are no new rules.

IMO it's worse because more than likely he gets away with it. In the Ray Rice video it's cut and dry evidence and he is going be held accountable for it (or more than likely be held accountable).

It's because owners are supposedly held to a higher standard. Not saying it's right, just saying that that's the way it is.

Vick getting busted for dog fighting would be my pick.

If the only difference is a video, then that's bogus. A lot of people have brought up the excellent point: exactly what in the **** did they think happened in that elevator?

If they knew he drug his unconscious wife out of an elevator after beating her, and decided to only suspend him two games for it, then the video should not have changed the suspension.

The lock out in 83 or whatever year that was.

I mean, it kind of leaves no doubt having it on camera, actually witnessing it. Not much room for he said/she said.
Even a conviction leaves a little room for doubt or excuses. A video doesn't.

Concussions are going to slowly erode the NFL

Hey, I get it man. It was heinous. But I just fail to see a different between domestic assault caught on tape and domestic assault done in privacy.

Owners are in a position of power. They make decisions that effect people's lives both professionally and financially.

Riley Cooper is an average WR in the NFL. His racism doesn't have the far reaching effect that the owner of a billion dollar business does.

I'm actually thinking that, too. Not just concussions, but general health stuff. The players now make a ton of money and many aren't good at managing it. We'll start seeing arthritis lawsuits and spinal cord lawsuits and "didn't stop me from taking steroids" lawsuits because the ex-players will want to maintain a lifestyle. Eventually that'll kill the sport and it'll go back to the sandlots.

I suppose the act itself is the same. But it makes it a lot easier to bring the hammer down for punishment if the thing is on video.

There isn't a difference. The reactions are what's different. Ray Rice would still be a piece of shit if there were no cameras. There would just be less people that know it.

That's what I meant...you just said it better.

I guess I just don't see how the NFL can indefinitely suspend him for something they already suspended him for.

Oh actually I can.

The NFL did it to save face. There was no reason that they needed to suspend him indefinitely after he was cut. No team would have been dumb enough to even entertain the idea of signing him this year.

It was a ploy for the NFL to be able to say, "see, we do care about this!!!!"

And I hope Rice sues them over it. And I hope he wins.

When can we get Goodell fired.

It's spelled hyenas

This has been handled horribly by the NFL, but I don't hope Ray Rice sues the NFL and wins. That would allow him to profit from a situation where he beat his wife. Just because the NFL has handled this worse than Mohammed Ali carrying nitro glycerine, that doesn't mean Ray should profit.

I agree. The NFL should spend some of their billions on researching (and publicizing) concussions/brain trauma in soccer.

And every player in the future who is convicted of it. The players better pick their women right and treat them well. They could destroy a players career easily.

It's hard to find one that can take a punch.

I thought those were to celebrate another Gay Day with Clay.

Meh. I've seen elevator hand rails that hit harder than Ray RIce.

Wish we could "cheat" and ****ing win a super bowl.

Chiefs way is a ****ing joke.

ya don't spell it son, ya eat it!

Ray Lewis

Rothlesberger the ladies man.....forcible ladies man.

Ray Rice didn't get suspended indefinitely because the league saw the whole video of him knocking his girl the **** out. He got suspended because the FANS saw the video of her getting knocked the **** out.

I hope this doesn't turn into a new facebook trend like the ALS ice bucket challenge.

The Ray Rice Challenge doesn't sound fun at all.

Al Davis. Just Al Davis.

I hope Rosie O'Donnell takes the Ray Rice Challenge.

Darryl Stingly getting paralyzed by Jack Tatum.

LMAO
Yeah, I'd have a few people I'd like to 'nominate'

This.

There is just no way NFL security didn't see that video.

I saw the Goodell interview with CBS. He seemed like he was completely full of shit.

Weird, I checked Madden 15 and Rice is gone. I put in Def Jam Vendetta and he's a selectable character now.

LMAO

I actually think the Vick thing was more damaging. Especially because he was able to come back and be a star afterwards. Never underestimate how many people there are who care more about dogs than humans.

Just think how many cases of domestic violence NFL security investigate a year that never get reported.

To the NFL this was just another incident. They spoke with law enforcement who told them it'll get resolved with a diversion program - no probation, no jail time, etc. To the NFL, who has had to deal with vehicular manslaughter, rape and murder/suicides, this just wasn't a big deal.

The biggest PR battles the NFL faces are with strikes. No $$$ - now, that's a problem.

Bob Costas being a douche.

It's equal with the Ron Mexico fiasco.

That was sad because after he came back, pretty much all the people who disliked him still did, and all the people who liked his game still did.

Personally, I think anyone who serves prison time should be banned for life, but that's just me. It's unseemly for the league to be running ex-cons out there and paying them millions.

Leonard Little:
1998: killed someone while driving drunk
2002: signed a $17.5 million contract
2004: arrested for another DUI
2006: signed a $19.5 million contract

I wasn't alive, so I don't know the reaction, but I know Rozelle said he always regretted having games the weekend after JFK was shot. But, again, I don't know if that was just personal guilt, or due to fans.

This one always bugged me.

John Elway and his self-entitlement.

Playing football on Sunday after the JFK assassination.

Michael Sam:

he's gay.

Sorry, but a football league playing already-scheduled football games does not in any way damage it's brand. Having notable players commit atrocities does.