NFL fan poll: Should Roger Goodell keep job? More state of the game

According to a poll conducted last week for Sports Illustrated by Marketing & Research Resources, the events of recent weeks have left a bad taste in the mouths of NFL fans although the appetite for the game has not diminished.

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Sep 23, 2014

According to a poll conducted last week for Sports Illustrated by Marketing & Research Resources, the events of recent weeks have left a bad taste in the mouths of NFL fans although the appetite for the game has not diminished. In the poll, which was conducted among more than 500 fans across the country, a wide variety of topics were discussed, including attitudes toward Roger Goodell, domestic violence in the NFL and the use of the nickname "Redskins" by Washington. Among the findings:

- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, the man at the center of the storm surrounding the league’s failed response to its domestic violence issues, is seen as part of the problem rather than the solution. Just 28.5 percent of fans who responded believe he should keep his job in the wake of the controversy, while another 33.6 percent are unsure. Then there’s the 37.8 percent who think he should be fired for his mishandling of the issues.

- The NFL players whose names have made those recent negative headlines -- Ray Rice, Greg Hardy, Adrian Peterson, Ray McDonald and Jonathan Dwyer -- have diminished fan opinion of the league in even stronger numbers than comprise the contingent of Goodell’s detractors. Of the responding fans who have followed the story very or somewhat closely, the degree to which the misdeeds or alleged misdeeds of Rice, Hardy, Peterson, McDonald and Dwyer worsened their opinion of the NFL varies from a high of 55 percent for Rice, to a low of 48 percent for Dwyer.

- The game, however, remains wildly popular, with 32 percent of respondents reporting their level of interest in the league has risen compared to last year, 59 percent saying it has stayed the same as it was in 2013, and just 9 percent acknowledging it has decreased. Furthermore, 85 percent of fans said they would let their sons play tackle football, even in the wake of studies and news about the long-term health risks of head injuries to football players.

- No doubt influenced by the recent wave of criminality, 46 percent of fans said NFL players are not good role models. According to the results of the survey, players in other pro leagues -- MLB, NHL, MLS -- were rated as better role models than the NFL's. Surprisingly, NBA players fared the worst of all the sports in that category.

- Other polling data includes: A surprising amount of support for legislation to legalize gambling on the NFL (37 percent), a small minority of fans (10 percent) who consider the name Redskins “very offensive,” and a seemingly shifting attitude toward marijuana, as just 54 percent of respondents said a player should be suspended for testing positive for the drug.

Below are all the poll results.

-- Don Banks