After the fallout for the Ray Rice ‘elvator tape’ release, the NFL is immediately implemented a sweeping domestic violence initiative under its personal conduct policy that calls for a six-game suspension for a first offense and a lifetime ban from the league for a second offense.
Tuesday afternoon, the same day NBC’s Law & Order: SVU announced it would do a ripped from the headlines episode about sports and domestic violence, NBC’s Today show announced it had landed an exclusive interview with the NFL’s new Social Responsibility Team in which they talk about what a “very very bad idea” it is to toss domestic abusers from the league and the need for “an opportunity for people to have a second chance…/return to playing.”
The NFL says it’s set to announce a new domestic-violence and sexual-assault policy next month, NBC News reported Wednesday morning, roughly two months after the league began dealing with a domestic-violence scandal prompted by the release of a disturbing video featuring former Ravens running back Ray Rice knocking out then-fiance Janay Palmer.
The new policy will also include the formation of a crisis response team with league officials trained as first responders, NBC News reported as part of an interview on Today with the three female domestic-violence experts appointed to advise the NFL on how to deal with the issue.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said last month that the league would consult outside experts to revise its personal conduct policy and work to educate players and employees. The personal conduct policy is still under review and still set to to be revised by the Super Bowl, an NFL spokesperson clarified to The Hollywood Reporter.
That’s different from the new domestic-violence and sexual-assault policy, which will consist of procedures and resources to manage someone from an NFL team or employee dealing with a domestic-violence or sexual-assault situation, the NFL spokesperson said.
Next week, the league is set to begin giving presentations to teams on how to identify and prevent future attacks.
The NFL has already met with domestic-violence and sexual-assault experts, started to revise the league’s conduct policy and begun conducting mandatory education sessions, NFL spokeswoman Joanna Hunter told NBC News.
A series of PSAs, featuring current and former stars including New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten and NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter will begin airing during games. The PSAs are a partnership between No More and Hargitay’s the Joyful Heart Foundation.
The PSAs which were directed by Mariska Hargitay, Tate Donovan and Blair Underwood, debuted, Wednesday morning on Today and featuring players saying things like “no more boys will be boys,” “no more I’ll say something next time” and “no more she looks fine to me.”
No More is designed to raise awareness of and work to end domestic violence and sexual assault.
the NFL created its Social Responsibility Team only after advertisers began threathen to pull its dollars due to the growing list of NFL players being accused of various forms of domestic abuse. Anheuser-Busch, McDonalds, Visa, Procter & Gamble, FedEx, Nike, and Campbell Soup Co., were among the companies that issued stern statements expressing “concern” to the league — and their customers, as the number of news reports about NFL players charged with domestic abuse grew.
The story contiued to grow in the news cycle and blogsphere when TMZ released the Ray Rice elevator tape. When the February incident first became public, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had suspended Rice for two games. After TMZ released the video, the Ravens cut Rice and the NFL suspended him indefinitely. But critics, domestic violence groups and advertizers, continued to experss their thought, that the genture wasn’t nearly enough to deal with the growing problem, so the NFL had no choice but to step up their game on the issue.
