The NFL in the crosshairs

By Tom Quiner

The NFL feeding frenzy begins.

Commissioner Roger Goodell better prepare for a long siege. He is now officially politically incorrect. Watch what happens over the weeks, months, and years ahead. The NFL is going to face an onslaught of bad press. They will be able to do nothing right in the eyes of media mavens and an alphabet soup of activist groups.

The campaign against the NFL will mirror the media campaign against the Catholic Church over the priest abuse scandal.

Both campaigns were grounded in legitimate grievances.

In the case of the Church, adolescent boys were abused by priests in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s and church authorities covered up some of the abuse. When the abuse came to light decades later, the international media began to cover this atrocity with responsible journalism, which ultimately morphed into irresponsible, unethical reporting. For example, the German magazine, Der Spiegel, offered a $1 million dollar reward for anyone who could dig up dirt on Pope Benedict XVI.

The Church stands for everything the liberal, mainstream opposes, such as sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and absolute Truth. The abuse scandal gave the media mob an excuse to try to bring down their enemy, the Church.

The damage to the Catholic “brand” was profound.

In the case of the NFL, three serious issues are growing in public awareness: domestic abuse; drug abuse; and brain injuries. But a fourth non-issue may cloud judgements on the handling of these issues, and that would be Commissioner Roger Goodell’s salary, which was $35.1 million last year.

Commissioner Goodell is a member of the “one-percent,” and they are automatically bad guys in the eyes of the liberals, redistributionists, and professional victims everywhere (forgive the redundancy).

Mr. Goodell’s handling of some of the issues listed above has not been consistently stellar. In fact, there is credible evidence that he was less than forthright on “what he knew, and when he knew it” regarding the Ray Rice domestic abuse scandal that dominates this week’s news cycle.

So what.

Mr. Goodell has done the right thing in indefinitely suspending Ray Rice for striking his then fiancé, even if it took him a while to arrive at his decision.

I remember another CEO, whom liberals did not want to fire, who also lied and did the actual sexual harassing himself. His name was Bill Clinton.

Mr. Goodell will receive no such consideration. Under his leadership, the NFL brand has soared along with the league’s profitability. The league made $9 billion last year. He forecasts $27 billion in profits by 2027. Liberals are suspicious of success.

Mr. Goodell and the NFL are going to be on the defensive for a long time to come. The NFL brand is under attack. They will need a much better PR machine than the Catholic Church was able to muster.

But, if anyone knows PR, it is Roger Goodell.