Roger Goodell Devising Harsher Punishments for Domestic Violence Offenders

When the politicians speak, the politician’s son listens.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, according to a report in the Washington Post–a few politicians read that paper–looks to increase the penalties for players involved in domestic violence. A source familiar with the direction the NFL heads here tells the Post that Goodell may punish first-time offenders with a 4-to-6 game suspension and ban repeat offenders from the league for a year. The league hopes to turn bad press into good press with the move.

“We were dismayed to learn of the National Football League’s plainly inadequate remedy imposed on Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice for hitting his then-fiancee hard enough to knock her unconscious and then dragging her out of an elevator,” Senators Tammy Baldwin (WI), Chris Murphy (CT), and Richard Blumenthal (CT) recently wrote the commissioner. Maine Governor Paul LePage claims the two-game suspension for Rice is “like promoting murder.” He accuses Goodell of “playing games with people’s lives.”

Neither the governor nor the senators mentioned in their missives that the judicial system punished Rice more leniently than the NFL.

“We need to have stricter penalties,” a source familiar with the NFL’s thought process on the new punishment told the Post. “I think you will see that. I believe the commissioner and others would like to see stricter penalties. We need to be more vigilant.”