Report: NFL owners will discuss changing Goodell's disciplinary role
NFL owners plan to discuss the idea of changing commissioner Roger Goodell's role in player discipline, reports the Washington Post.
In the wake of Tom Brady's lengthy Deflategate disciplinary saga and subsequent court case, which led to the complete overturning of his league-imposed suspension, team owners will take a look at Goodell's degree of authority in the process. It's reportedly unclear if any changes will come of it, but it is a step in the direction toward altering Goodell's position of power.
The commissioner is currently allowed to arbitrate players' disciplinary appeal hearings.
“There will certainly be discussion about that,” one owner told the Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. The owner said he is “not sure where it will lead.”
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Another source told the Post it's too soon to know whether the league's owners are in favor of a change. The NFL would have to then begin talks with the players' union regarding modifications to the league's disciplinary process, as stipulated in the collective bargaining agreement. The union has been in favor of using a neutral arbitrator in discipline cases to hear appeals.
Goodell said at a meeting in August that owners were in favor of him holding his current power in appeal cases.
The league's next scheduled owners' meeting is in October. The current CBA runs through 2020.
- Jeremy Woo
