An Empirical Investigation of Violence Against Women in the NFL

NFL Conduct Policies

The NFL has conduct policies for a variety of topics including minor team infractions, drug and substance abuse, violent behavior towards other individuals including those who are domestic partners, family members, children, and other vulnerable persons. These policies are listed in a variety of documents including the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Uniform Player Contract, and the Personal Conduct Policy. The NFL uses these documents to give players guidelines of what they can and cannot do on and off the field. These documents also list out the steps to be taken by the National Football League if any policy is violated.

The National Football League Collective Bargaining Agreement (NFL-CBA) is an agreement between the league itself and the union of players. This agreement states the terms of the contracts for employment between the league and the player. This agreement specifically states the disciplinary actions that are to be taken by the league. The CBA is represented in the Uniform Player Contract. This also contains terms for employment by the NFL and details the benefits and salaries for signing a contract with the NFL. The League Constitution contains the role of the commissioner and also states by-laws to specify the commissioner's power.

According to the Policy on Performance-Enhancing Drugs from the NFL Players Association, for a first offense, the player will receive a 2-game suspension for diuretic or masking agent, 4-game suspension for stimulant and anabolic agents, and a 6-game suspension for a positive test result on a prohibited drug along with a masking agent that was used to cover up drug usage. The player's second offense will result in a 10-game suspension. The third offense leaves the player suspended for at least two seasons, subject to appeal. The NFL's drug policy is a very simple three chance policy. Each repeated suspension leads to a longer suspension period. Bennett (2013) discovered that some players were still paid during these suspensions even when they were not playing. Through this policy, players still receive large paychecks even though the paychecks are only a fraction of their regular pay. Bennett (2013) suggests that the NFL use a harm reduction alternative including group meetings or league-appointed therapy which may help lower the penalties given to players for misdemeanor drug use.

According to the Personal Conduct Policy from the NFL, any player convicted of a crime or pending prosecution are susceptible to discipline from the National Football League. Prohibited behaviors include:

“Actual or threatened physical violence against another person, including dating violence, domestic violence, child abuse, and other forms of family violence;

The NFL's policy for conduct ranges from missing a team practice all the way to assaulting an official on the field. These types of incidents are punished with either a fine or a suspension for a portion of the season (NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement, 2020). According to the official website for NFL Operations, physical contact with an official is punishable by a initial fine of $35,096 and if there is a second offense the fine is $70,194; this is identical to the policy for on-field fighting as well (NFL Football Operations, 2020). The second most expensive fine is for verbal aggression toward an official, which results in an initial fine of $28,075 and a fine of $56,156 for a second offense (NFL Football Operations, 2020). For violation of player safety rules or a personal foul, the fines range from $10,000 to $20,000 for the first offense and $15,000 to $40,000 for a second offense (NFL Football Operations, 2020). Fines can also be given for a player's uniform with a maximum fine of $10,000 for first offense and maximum of $20,000 for a second offense (NFL Football Operations, 2020). The only stipulation that has no concrete fine or suspension is gang signing during a game. This can result in both a suspension and/or fine depending on how severe the incident was (NFL Football Operations, 2020).

NFL and Violence Against Women

In recent years, the NFL has had an increasing number of cases involving disciplinary matters and off-field offenses (Staffo, 2013). Media attention and public have pressured the NFL to implement strategies that effectively control the problem of violence against women (Dabbs, 1998). In the 1990s, the NFL was the only professional sports league with a written formal policy for addressing players accused or convicted of domestic violence or sexual assault, but there were very few instances in which the League enforced this policy (Janusz, 2012). Updated in 2007, the NFL Personal Conduct Policy: “With regard to violations of the Personal Conduct Policy that involve: (i) criminal assault or battery (felony); (ii) domestic violence, dating violence, child abuse and other forms of family violence; or (iii) sexual assault involving physical force or committed against someone incapable of giving consent, a first offense will subject the offender to a baseline suspension without pay of six games, with consideration given to any aggravating or mitigating factors” (p 6–7). The NFL Personal Conduct Policy states that a player's first offense of domestic violence, assault, battery, or sexual assault is a 6-game suspension, subject to change due to mitigating factors. The second offense results in the player being banished permanently by the NFL. However, the stipulation that the suspension can be altered does not specify whether the commissioner can decrease the length of suspension (National Football League, 2016). Further, the policy does not require the NFL's commissioner to prove that a player committed misconduct under either the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt, or even the lesser civil burden of preponderance of evidence (refer to Janusz, 2012). The discipline may be imposed whenever a player's misconduct is found to be detrimental to the integrity of the League, which is left to the commissioner's discretion.

In comparing VAW to other offenses, Martin (2017) found that the average suspension rate for a PED offense was similar to that of violence against women. In some cases, players received a more lenient suspension for violence against women than a first time PED offense. As noted earlier, the NFL requires a minimum of 6 games suspension in their policy for violent offences. However, some cases that involved violence against women only included a two to four game suspension. Thus, this minimal reaction has brought the NFL's handling of VAW cases into question (Martin, 2017). According to Martin, the conviction rate for the general population in relation to domestic violence is 77%, however for professional sports players, this rate is only a rate of 36% of players being convicted. Almost half of the violent offences that occurred at the hands of NFL players pertained to violence against women, compared to the general public of only 21%. Most alarming was the fact that 48% of NFL player arrests were on the basis of domestic violence (Martin, 2017).

Building off of Martin's study, our study focused on two research questions: (1) What is the prevalence of VAW among NFL players (inclusive of rape, domestic and dating violence, and stalking)? and (2) Are there differences in game suspensions for VAW as compared to other violations, including minor sports-infractions, general violent behaviors, and drug-related offenses?

Limitations

It should be noted that each of the 32 teams in the NFL carry 53-player rosters, totaling 1,700 players in the league (NCAA, 2020). Thus, our number of 176 (10%) may be problematic in that there are likely to be crimes that were not included in our list. Similar to Morris (2014b), our data collected may be even larger than the estimate based on roster limits; some players are frequently dropped and replaced, and our data might also be missing some players whose arrests flew under the radar (i.e., if not a popular player). Another concern in our data collection is that we were not able to account for harsher punishment such as the banning of certain players from the league due to misconduct, or other reasons. For example, if a player engaged in VAW, they may have ultimately been dropped or banned by a team of the NFL, and if the media did not account for that, that player would not be included in our list. Specifically, our data did not include Ray Rice, as he was banned, and not punished with game-suspensions. Thus, there seems to be major inconsistencies in the NFL policies about punishment (of which kind) that may have ultimately impacted our data collection. Our findings are preliminary and additional empirical research is clearly warranted.

Implications

These analyses provide important empirical insights into player violations in the NFL and the number of game suspensions. Given the negative publicity related to violence against women and general violent behaviors, the NFL may be reluctant to acknowledge and share information regarding athletes. In fact, there is some evidence that suggests college athletic departments and the NFL go to great lengths to protect violent athletes (Welch, 1997). There are countless reports every year of high school (e.g., Steubenville High School football players) and college players (e.g., Vanderbilt football players) being accused of violent behavioral misconduct followed by institutional cover up and mistreatment of victims, and yet are still allowed to play (Chief Elk-Young Bear, 2016). The video of the Ray Rice incident only came to light after a news outlet TMZ received the footage; at no point did the NFL ask for the footage from the casino where the incident occurred (Moskovitz, 2015). When there was outrage over the punishment of Rice, Goodell responded by saying he would increase the penalties for players accused of domestic violence. However, the current study found that there was not an increase, and remains as 4-game average, rather than the 6-game minimum suspension as stated in the Conduct Policy. In addition, this study indicates there is a need to address violence against women among all athletes, and not just within the NFL. It would be fruitful for future research to compare rates of VAW in other sports (MLB, NBA, NHL), as data is limited and not publicly available.

There are a number of ways the NFL can address VAW using the social ecological framework: One way to prevent players with a history of off-field violence entering the NFL is to focus on their behavior while in college (i.e., individual factors), because players who commit violent offenses typically have a history of violence (Staffo, 2013). In response to this, the NFL created a program to mentor new players. Through this program, senior players who have had issues with off-field violence mentor the new players on how to avoid the same situations (Staffo, 2013). Another initiative was presenting each team with a one-hour program on domestic violence (Moskovitz, 2015). These are examples of community resources and educational programming, which have been found to be helpful in preventing VAW (Terry, 2014)). At the very least, the NFL is creating policies and programming, which has not been done in other major leagues (i.e., NBA, MBA, NHL).

At the policy-level, the NFL introduced a policy to combat gender-based violence, which focused on the NFL Scouting Combine and Draft. The policy banned players with criminal convictions for domestic violence, sexual assault, or weapons charges from attending the Combine and Draft. And if players refused to submit to a background check, their invitations to both events were revoked. However, players were still allowed to attend private workouts, pro days, regional combines and to play in the league (Chief Elk-Young Bear, 2016). The NFL also donated airtime for an anti-domestic violence advertisement during a Super Bowl, partnering with No More, an unknown coalition to combat domestic violence and sexual assault, with a staff of only 4 and is for-profit. Additionally, the NFL did donate $1 million to help victims of domestic violence, however it came at very little cost to the league who brings in an estimated $10 billion each year (Moskovitz, 2015). These “messages seem to merely be public relation ploys designed to please the public…and more than obvious that the league cares more about its image than the women victimized by the league's players” (Chief Elk-Young Bear, 2016).

It should be noted that the majority of NFL players are not aggressive. However, Kimmel and Kimmel (2008) state that many men (and players) also do nothing to stop violence and thus perpetuate its existence. The silence by players and the League (i.e., Commissioner, owners) allow violence to continue, particularly in high risk all-male groups where group loyalty is engrained (Jozkowski & Wiersma-Mosley, 2017; Schwartz & DeKeseredy, 1997). Thus, the League should empower players to speak out as active bystanders and allies in the prevention of violence. The Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program has been found to be effective and appealing to men, particularly athletes, as the approach views men as allies in preventing violence versus viewing men as perpetrators or potential perpetrators (Berkowitz, 1994; Katz, 1995).

In closing, our study empirically assessed VAW in the NFL. As Welch (1997) stated, there seems to be a connection between physical aggression, collision and combative sport with hypermasculinity, all of which are factors in the social ecological theory related to VAW. Welsh states further “how sports transform athletes into heroes and celebrities, thereby reinforcing prestige, narcissism, specialness, and a sense of entitlement; all of these products contribute to violence against women” (p. 4). This is seen in a statement from QB Don McPherson (as cited in Moskovitz, 2015): “I think the conversation that the NFL is having on the punitive side, all it does is further criminalize the players in the league. It doesn't address the core issue of men's violence against women, which is the culture of masculinity and men that leads to misogyny and sexism and the overall notion that women are less than, which is very much a message that comes out of a lot of language in sport. And until we address those core issues, the problem will continue, and all the NFL is going to be creating [is] a criminal state in their league.” In sum, until VAW is addressed at every level of the social ecological framework, VAW will continue to be an issue in our society and in the NFL.