Five Reasons Roger Goodell Is Ruining the NFL

Football is America’s sport, it’s the most exciting, intricate sport the world has to offer but like all things great it has to come to an end. What is the main reason for the NFL’s eventual demise? Roger Goodell! Here are my reasons.

His inconsistency as Commissioner:

Roger has done a lot since becoming commissioner only 4 years ago. But one thing that stands out more than individual actions have been the inconsistency of those actions. Suspensions are the best example of his inconsistency, at the beginning of his tenure in 2006 he suspended Tank Johnson 8 games for weapons charges but in 2010 the same violation only warrants a fine. I could continue on the suspensions but that will take too long.

His Lack of Connection to the Game:

Now I know he played football in High school as well as a few other sports. But he is pushing too hard and asking too much from a sport that is already the harshest on the human body. It doesn’t take much thought to recognize adding more games and sending teams across the Atlantic to play is going to significantly hurt the quality of play in the NFL. Goodell is setting the league up to fail or at least lose a lot of money and fans.

When it comes to a sport that is this important to a Nation everything about it should be taken very seriously. Free agency and steroids ruined baseball for me a long time ago. And the lack of punishment given to the Patriots by Roger Goodell is inexcusable. They tested the integrity of the game and barely got a slap on the wrist. This is by far the biggest problem with Goodell for me because it shows how little he cares about the glory of the NFL.   

His Inability to think and act independently from Teams (high revenue):

This couples with my first reason. Simply put Roger treats teams differently as well as players. High revenue, high value teams to the NFL get preferential treatment, it’s as simple as that.

Monetary Goal of NFL:

Everyone wants more money, even those with 7 figures need bigger yachts am I right? Well Roger this isn’t just a business, it’s the best sport in the world. All he seems to care about is the owners, while the players get left in the dust.

On NFL.com a few months ago I was reading an article on Goodell meeting with players during training camp. Talking with them about the new deal and after a short speech he asked the team if there were any questions. I wish I could find the article, but simply put Roger was not prepared. In typical Goodell fashion he expected less from the players, after less than 20 minutes of questions he seemed overwhelmed and to most questions he responded with “they aren’t happy” (referring to the owners). Most players left the meeting angry with only more questions.

Rule Changes:  

Roger has made several changes throughout his time as commissioner, some good some bad. While he claims that most are for the protection of the players, I contend that they take away from the game. The only great change he has made for the game is switching division games to the end of the season to ensure players cannot sit. 

If Goodell cares about the NFL player as much as he claims to, he would address the concussion problem in 2 simple ways. First the “88 rule” is ridiculous, only $88,000 for those with head trauma? Give them more money when they need it! But in my opinion the biggest contributor would be helmets. I still see players with Riddells on from the 80s! I even saw a few Schutts in the preseason. It’s a fact that the newer Revolution helmet cuts down on head injuries SO MAKE THEM MANDATORY!