Erica Allen

CMST 102 Podcast Outline

NFL & THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ISSUE
Specific Purpose: To find out if the NFL is handling the issue correctly and effectively.
Central Idea: The NFL and How there handling the Domestic Violence Issue.
Introduction
I.

Did you know in the last 6 year, more than 56 players have been charged with Domestic
Violence. In 2012 alone, 21 of the 32 NFL teams had players charged with Domestic
Violence.
How many of you are aware of this issue? I know those numbers stated are high and
seem like something everyone should know about.
For the people who love the NFL and look up to the players, you dont want all players to
get a bad name because of what other players are doing.
My Name is Erica Allen and I will be discussing the issue of NFL players charged with
domestic violence and how the industry is handling the issue.
A. First, I will discuss the issue and how it was being handled.
B. Second, I discuss what has happened to the Players charged with Domestic Violence.
C. Third, I will discuss what is now being done to solve the issue.

II.
III.
IV.

TRANSITION: Now lets discuss what the issue is and how what the NFL was doing was not
handling the issue.
Body
I.

The issue at hand is N.F.L. players getting charged with domestic violence charges
and the N.F.L. not handling the problem correctly or at all.
A. The league was not fairly punishing players charged with domestic violence, if
they were at all punished.
B. For the longest time the N.F.L. was acting like nothing was happening, trying to
keep from dragging their name through the mud.
C. A great example comes from an article called In Domestic Violence Cases,
N.F.L. Has a History of Lenience, were it states that On April 10, 2007, after
more than 50 National Football League players had been arrested in the previous
football season, Commissioner Roger Goodell was widely hailed for instituting a
newly stringent personal conduct policy. Mr. Goodell threatened to banish players
for off-the-field transgressions.

D. In this same article it states that seven years after he implemented the personal
conduct policy, Mr. Goodell acknowledged publicly that it had failed and would
be overhauled.
E. Furthermore the article states that Mr. Goodell appears to have had a major blind
spot, domestic violence cases. Players charged with domestic violence more often
receive lighter punishments than players accused of other offenses, like drug use
or drunken driving. Sometimes players werent punished at all.
TRANSITION: Now that brings me to my next part. I would like to talk about the unfair
consequences that players charged with lesser offenses faced compared to players charged with
Domestic Violence.
II.

As said early in the last 6 years more than 56 players have been charged with
domestic violence. This number seems to be growing every year, mainly due to the
lack of punishment received from the league.
A. Stated in an New York Times article back in 2011 green bay packers player Erik
Walden was charged with suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend, the court reduced
the charges then eventually dismissed the case after Walden performed 50 hours
of community service and received counseling. The N.F.L. ended up on
suspended him for one game. But not even two months earlier police arrested
Bengals player Jerome Simpson for having two and a half pounds of marijuana
sent to his house. The league ended up suspending him for three games.
B. Does that seem fair to you, its giving off the idea that its wrong to have
marijuana sent to your house, but its okay to beat on a helpless person.
C. Between 2000 and 2014, Goodell suspended players charged with domestic
violence for one game or not at all in 88 percent of cases. Compare that with
substance abuse and performance-enhancing drug violations, which resulted in
suspensions of four games or more in 82 percent of such cases over the same
period reported espn.com.
D. Its not just players charged with lesser offenses that are getting harder
punishments, in some cases if the player charged with a domestic violence charge
is a starter and important to the team, they may not punish them at all, but if they
are non-starters or special teams they then in some cases have not just suspended
them, but released them from the team completely.
E. All players charged with domestic violence offenses need to be punished the same
and not given any type of special treatment depending on who they are.

TRANSITION: Now that brings me to the new conduct policy for players charged with
Domestic Violence, what the N.F.L. is doing to restore its name, and what is still wrong.

III.

CNN released a news article that included the conduct policy that the N.F.L. has come
up with. It states that it has a more extensive list for prohibited conduct. This also
includes a six game suspension for players charges with domestic violence. The
suspension could be longer if there are possible mitigating or aggravating
circumstances stated Commissioner Roger Goodell.
A. The new policy is better than the previous one, but it still lacks in many areas. The
new policy states the first time charged with a domestic violence is a six game
suspension, and then the second time you are suspended forever. Why does it have
to take two times for that to happen?
B. Its showing people that its okay to abuse someone just as long as you dont get
in trouble for it twice. This is not a good look for the N.F.L. and they are doing
everything they can to make this invisible black eye that the league now has
because of this go away.

IV.

The N.F.L. lately has been doing a lot to make themselves look better in the eyes of
the media and the fans, but is it enough.
A. On NFL.com they have a list of all the things that the N.F.L. is doing to address
the problem at hand. To list a few are the updated Personal Conduct Policy,
Addressing Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault in the Community, Supporting
Leading Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention
Groups, and Promoting Programs that Develop the Character of Young People.
B. These are all good things but why now. The N.F.L. wasnt doing all these things
until the Ray Rice domestic violence case came to light and it got even worse
after the video of the assault was released.
C. Why does it take for something like this to happen before change has to occur?
This seems to be the N.F.L. dirty little secret that has been hidden for almost a
decade and now thats its out, their scrambling to try and fix the problem, a
problem that should have been fixed a long time ago.
D. These players are heroes to many children and even adults. Many look up to them
and want to be like them, this is not the example that should be portrayed by the
N.F.L. or their players.
E. Domestic Violence is a serious issue and it needs to be taken serious by all parties
involved.

INTERNAL SUMMARY: Now that you know all the information about the N.F.L. and its
issue with how its handling Domestic Violence involving their players, lets go over some of the
major points that I brought up. We went over how the previous policy they had in place was not
being enforced at all and how the new policy is better but still is not perfect. We also went over
the unfair harsher consequences that were handed out to players charged with lesser offenses.
Finally we went over what the N.F.L. is now doing to help the cause and restore the N.F.L.s
name.
Conclusion
I.

Thanks so much for listening! Remember Domestic Violence is a serious issue

and never should be taken lightly.

References
"NFL Domestic Violence Shines a Light on a National Problem." Legalzoom.com. 23 Sept.
2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2015. <https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/nfl-domestic-violence-shineslight-on-national-problem>.
Pennington, Bill, and Steve Eder. "In Domestic Violence Cases, N.F.L. Has a History of
Lenience." The New York Times. The New York Times, 19 Sept. 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/20/sports/football/in-domestic-violence-cases-nfl-has-ahistory-of-lenience.html?_r=1>.
Levs, Josh. "NFL Toughens Policy Addressing Assault and Domestic Violence - CNN.com."
CNN. Cable News Network, 10 Dec. 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/10/us/nfl-conduct/>.
Fainaru-Wada, Mark, and Steve Fainaru. "OTL: NFL Didn't Enforce Own policies." ESPN.
ESPN Internet Ventures, 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2015.
<http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/11849798/outside-lines-most-nfl-players-domesticviolence-cases-never-missed-down>.
"The NFL's Response to Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault." NFL.com. NFL.com, 5 Dec.
2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2015. <http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000439286/article/the-nflsresponse-to-domestic-violence-and-sexual-assault>.
Moskovitz, Diana. "Do The NFL's Anti-Domestic Violence Initiatives Actually Even Exist?"
Deadspin. 1 Feb. 2015. Web. 14 Feb. 2015. <http://deadspin.com/do-the-nfls-anti-domesticviolence-initiatives-actually-1682681513>.