The man responsible for helping negotiate the NFL into a $10B-a year industry, isn’t going anywhere.  In fact, despite a very tough 2014 season with off the field problems, his power base may be growing.Roger Goodell issued a 4-page white page statement, a new Code of Conduct policy, ratified by all 32-owners.It is a 2-strike and you are out of the NFL set of standards.  It is strong, it is now transparent, and it is there in black and white for all to see.

Goodell and the NFL put this package together without any input from the players and the union, and that likely will set up the battle lines when the next CBA deal comes up for negotiations.

What is different, is that everyone knows the rules now, and what the penalties will be.

Get arrested on a violence charge, assault an officer, you get removed from the team and put on the exempt list with pay, while the NFL does its probe.

You get convicted, it is 6-games, no explanations needed.  If you had arrest issues prior, from college to your prior years in the league, the suspension could be longer than six.

And by the way, once your case is resolved, you still face the suspension from the league.

If you are a repeat offender, it is a 1-year suspension.

Goodell will hire a Discipline officer, who will hand out the initial suspensions.  The commissioner will retain the right to be the Appeals hearing officer (judge and jury) himself.

The union has screamed this year about different rules for different folks, and the cloud cover overwhat was punishable, what was not.  No longer.  Refer to the four page memo.

The man of power, remains in power, union and players be damned.  Now we await to see which NFL knucklehead gets busted for a crime, and gets busted by the league.

It’s a shame the NFL has to regulate right vs wrong decisions made by players.  The union obviously hasn’t been able to deliver the message to their own clients.

The first sentence of the memo says it all: “It’s a privledge to play in the NFL, we will not allow you to damage the game.”

No gray areas now; maybe no more black eyes for the NFL either.  The white paper right there, NFL players, read it, in black and white.

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