An appearance by Commissioner Roger Goodell on the Netflix pregame show in advance of 49ers-Rams in Melbourne included a box-checking question about the no-contest plea by 49ers owner Jed York on a pair of misdemeanor charges arising from a prostitution-related arrest last month.
Goodell confirmed that the situation is being “looked at” under the Personal Conduct Policy.
“When we get it completed, we’ll obviously make an announcement at that point in time,” Goodell told Netflix host Elle Duncan.
Other areas of potential curiosity could have included, for instance, why it’s taking so long, given that he resolved the case one day after the arrest? Likewise, it would have been fair to ask whether York will be held to a higher standard than would be applied to a player and, if so, how that may be reflected in the punishment.
It’s a delicate balance, to be sure. The league surely prefers not to shine a spotlight on a source of embarrassment. And Netflix undoubtedly doesn’t want to damage a burgeoning partnership.
Still, it happened. And the league doesn’t hesitate to bang the drum on playing in the NFL being a privilege, not a right. When player behavior falls short of the league’s standard, consequences are imposed — often swiftly and rarely equivocally.
And if there was any doubt about the other side of the coin, Netflix analyst Michael Irvin was not given an opportunity to repeat his “everybody’s paying for it” defense of York.
Read the full article here
