NFL Needs to Take a Few Cues from TMZ to Avoid More Kareem Hunt-Like Failures

If the NFL wants to stop being consistently embarrassed by TMZ, it must become like TMZ.

Let me explain.

TMZ is a multimedia celebrity-gossip factory that makes news because it often pays for it. Sometimes this comes through stories; more explosively, it comes via video, like the footage it posted of former Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt shoving and kicking Abigail Ottinger in a hotel hallway or the video of Ray Rice punching then-fiancee and now-wife Janay Palmer in an elevator.

A former TMZ employee explained the process of how such videos generally get into the site staffer's hands. TMZ gets information from a tip line—either via phone call or email—and then views portions or all of the video.

TMZ then attempts to authenticate the footage. TMZ will only air the footage if they deem it authentic.

In Hunt's case, the former employee speculated that a hotel employee used his or her cellphone to record the security footage (this would explain the angle and bizarre camera movement).

There's another interesting fact about TMZ that many people don't know: The company has numerous sources in law enforcement and security all over the country. It's possible someone from that side contacted TMZ and made a deal or provided the company with the contact information of the person who had the video. The NFL has similar relationships with law enforcement officials all over the country and world.

The Chiefs, ironically enough, announced in September that they had hired Jeffrey Miller as their vice president of security. According to Miller's bio on the Chiefs website, he worked 24 years for the Pennsylvania State Police.

Inside TMZ, it's likely only two to five people in the entire company would be privy to both the source and how much money TMZ paid for the tape. TMZ takes confidentiality seriously. (According to a story about the site in the New Yorker, the price seems to vary depending on the material, ranging from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands.)

The logistics surrounding TMZ's operations are vital when attempting to digest why the NFL couldn't get the Hunt video on its own. It also surfaces another basic point: The NFL must enter this sordid, high-risk world of security videos, cellphone footage and payments, or it will keep finding its investigative arm humiliated by TMZ and others.

Jason DeCrow/Associated Press/Associated Press/Associated Press/Associated Press

It's not just a matter of the league looking impotent. These videos can be crucial pieces of evidence in helping to determine the truth of what these players did.

The NFL has adapted to the 21st century in numerous ways. It's placated a fanbase that wants more points by engineering large swaths of defense out of the game. It became a television sport and is migrating online. It's adapted in countless other manners.

But it's falling behind in the cellphone age. It's been slow to understand how video footage is, in many instances, a truth-teller.

The NFL could do what TMZ does—set up a tip line, pay video tipsters—but it won't.

A source told Pro Football Talk the NFL won't pay for video evidence because of concerns about potential litigation and legal liabilities.

The problem with that stance is that if you've set yourself up as the sole arbiter within the league regarding the punishment of players, you need to be proactive in getting to the truth. NFL officials can't just say, "We tried to get the video—oh, well." First, few will believe it, not with the resources it has at its disposal and the security teams every franchise in the league has. Second, for a billion-dollar business that continues to have problems regarding its players and violence against women, such a response is wholly inadequate.

That doesn't seem to make a difference. Rather, the league will claim, as it did with both Hunt and Rice, that it requested the videos from law enforcement but were not given them—either because of an active investigation or just…because.

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press/Associated Press

As Roger Goodell wrote in a letter to owners in the wake of the Rice video release:

"None of the law enforcement entities we approached was permitted to provide any video or other investigatory material to us. … Once a criminal investigation begins, law enforcement authorities do not share investigatory material (such as the videos here) with private parties such as the NFL. In addition, the state's Open Public Records Act excludes material that is generated in the context of an active law enforcement proceeding. The law enforcement agencies did nothing wrong here; they simply followed their customary procedures."

What Goodell said then, and the NFL seems to maintain now, is getting the video might be illegal. But if someone slipped a copy of the tape to the league, and the NFL financially compensated them, all done to find justice, what legal entity would really prosecute the league? 

The answer: none.

It's tricky for sure, but the alternative—willful ignorance—is worse.

Far worse.