Another summer brings about another season Football, and also brings all the drama that comes with. Violence is in the blood DNA of Football, the sport itself is physical and demanding. So it should be no surprise violence spreads beyond the Football field and into the public eye. Recently, Ezekiel Elliot, the star running back of the Dallas Cowboys, got into some very serious trouble, after it came to light that he beat his girlfriend severely on more than one occasion. I will try to show what this incident means for the NFL, and this means for the coming NFL season.
Unlike other instances of domestic violence in the NFL, Roger Goodell and company reacted swiftly and harshly. Ezekiel got a six game suspension, more than a quarter of the season. More than Tom Brady, and way more than Ray Rice, who was punished for a similar reason. What does this mean? Well for one, it shows that the attitude of the NFL towards these cases are changing, it shows that the NFL can longer whitewash these incidents as "men being men". Good for humanity, absolutely, but is it good for the NFL, probably not. The NFL has a notorious record of arrests, domestic violence, DUI, drug use, rape, manslaughter, etc. For the NFL to take a stronger stance against all of these types incidents can sometimes mean hurting their business. NFL stars are built up as heroes, men of unconquerable will and passion for the sport. Admitting and strongly showing their condemnation for those who break the law, would wound the image of many NFL stars, including Ezekiel Elliot. During last years season, Elliot became a star, he quickly gained popularity and strong fan base, showing children and adults how to "be a man" and how to win. Now people will see him as a wife beater, a criminal, certainly less people will buy his merchandise or tune in on ESPN to see him compete. Thus the NFL loses revenue, and that is bad but ultimately necessary. I see this as a shift in how the NFL will deal with these incidents, instead of punishing players after the fact, they will seek to prevent these incidents from even happening.
Anyways I digress, Zeke being out is going to have a ripple effect on the rest of the NFL, for one the stability of the NFC East. The NFC East for a long time has been a forgotten aspect of the NFL, constantly inconsistent, and in the last five years, totally unremarkable and over hyped. This trend broke last year when the Cowboys' two rookies stunned the world of football and broke records. Meanwhile, the Giants also had a rise, as they made it to the wildcard game, something that has not happened in a few years. Furthermore, Redskins fans will be delighted to know that Josh Norman is still and elite cornerback, and Kirk Cousins is slowly starting to show his strengths. What this means is the NFC east is once again going to come down to very competitive match ups, and no clear winner is in sight. Perhaps this will be good for the NFL, competition looks good for viewers, and the NFC east is ripe with hardcore fan bases who hate the rivals.
The NFL is going to be worse off in other aspects as well. As I mentioned before, the issue of being hard on NFL players is that this policy can result in very high level players being taken out for half a season. Of course, his means the NFL will lose some revenue from loss of ticket sales. Overall, in the long run this policy of being harder on players will be bad in the short run, but perhaps good in the long run. Players will have more incentive not to break the rules, and prevent future incidents. Eventually, this will clean up the image of the NFL, maybe not now or this year, but in the next three to five years. As a result, the NFL can expect increases in customers coming out to see the NFL, instead of condemning them over controversies involving their players.
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