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Nicole Birsner
COM321-002
Bad PR: Ray Rice
In recent years, the National Football League has had its fair share of scandals.
From on the field scandals like Deflate Gate and off the field scandals such as Aaron
Hernandez, the NFL has handled scandals with varying degrees of success. The Ray Rice
domestic violence scandal was one of the most poorly handled situations in recent
history. The National Football League (NFL) should have handled domestic violence
punishments sooner than the Ray Rice situation, however they still inadequately handled
it.
On Valentines Day in 2014 Ray Rice and his then fianc (now wife) had an
altercation in an elevator. This resulted in Palmer being knocked out and dragged out of
the elevator, unconscious, by Rice. The next day, February 15, both Rice and Palmer
were arrested for assault. Four days later, the video of Rice dragging Palmer out of the
elevator emerged through TMZ. This was only part of the entire video, which was not
released until September 8 (Bien, 2014). Two months earlier, the NFL suspended Ray
Rice for two games. After the full video was released he was suspended indefinitely,
which was eventually uplifted through an appeal to the NFL. This video combined with
the appeal win outraged the public and created a public relations disaster for the NFL. If
they had handled the situation differently, they could have come out on top and in control
of this unfortunate situation.
The first thing you look at is the NFL did not follow multiple parts of the PRSA
Code of Ethics, fairness and consistency. Before the NFL put new rules in place regarding

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domestic violence, players were getting longer suspensions for less severe legal
problems. Players charged with domestic violence routinely received lighter punishments
than players accused of offenses such as drug use. These penalties doled out by the
league showed that two to four game suspensions were far more likely for players
arrested for marijuana possession (Pennington, 2014). To say that someone who smokes
marijuana is more deserving of a suspension compared to someone who beat up their
significant other is wrong. The lack of fairness in punishments by the NFL was a leading
cause in the Ray Rice situation. On top of fairness, consistency was also an issue. More
than half of the players who have been accused of domestic violence during Roger
Goodells tenure as commissioner have gone without punishment from the league
(Keneally, 2014). This created a huge issue for the NFL in terms of both Ray Rices
specific domestic violence dispute and domestic violence in the NFL in general. There
was no clear punishment to perpetrators domestic violence. No consistency in
punishments, especially with situations as severe as domestic violence, does not allow the
NFL to be as effective as possible. Flip-flopping on the rules does not allow a company to
be viewed in a positive light.
As stated above, Ray Rice got two suspensions for one crime. In the United States
it is illegal to get punished for the same crime twice, therefore making the NFLs
punishment unlawful. The NFL should have waited for the police investigation to unfold
before administering a punishment to Rice. This is what they normally do however they
acted too quickly in this case. Doing this would have allowed for the NFL to distribute an
appropriate punishment rather than having to be stuck with the two game punishment

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originally given to Rice. This made the NFL look weak and not conscious of both
Constitutional law and their own laws.
Getting employees involved in the awareness and prevention of domestic violence
sooner than the NFL did would have been a better step. It could have shown the true
remorse in what happened with Ray Rice and the public could have seen that they were
truly trying to fix it. Instead, the NFL kept hurting itself in a situation where it was
already being hurt by the media and public. Distribution of controlled media such as
pamphlets and different promotional commercials to combat domestic violence is a good
step. Low awareness is a weakness when it comes to public relations, and if the public
does not know you are trying to fix a problem they are going to think you do not care
about the issue at hand. The NFL eventually implemented a domestic violence class for
their Rookie Symposium and also current NFL players. However, a representative from
the National Network to End Domestic Violence said that the training new players get
seemed far too brief to have a real impact (Golembewski, 2015). In a situation like this
a organization as big as the NFL should be doing everything in its power to get the
support of organizations like this, especially publicly. You do not want the public to
believe that you are trying to do the bare minimum in a situation that had a huge effect on
the NFL.
When a company makes a mistake, the best option is to admit your faults to the
public and to tell them how you are planning on fixing this. Unfortunately, at the
beginning of the situation with Ray Rice that was not done. Both the head coach and
owner of the Baltimore Ravens (his former team) got behind him and supported him.
They did not say they would wait for the police investigation to conclude before making

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a comment. They specifically backed Rice, which ended up making them go back on
their word multiple times. In a letter to the owners, Goodell wrote that he didnt get it
right about his initial reprimand of Rice in September (Golembewski, 2015). Although
this letter was released to the public Roger Goodell should have addressed this
specifically to the public. It does not feel personable and genuine to the consumer if their
getting this information from sources not directed to them specifically. Honesty is the
best policy when it comes to situations like this in public relations.
Finally, the NFL needs to recognize what their audience both wants and needs.
They should accomplish this by sending out surveys and experimenting with different
ways to help bring an end to domestic violence. For example, when the Ray Rice
situation happened a lot of female fans felt second-class because of the punishments
handed out by the NFL. They were not sure if they could continue being fans. Doing
something like beginning an outreach for female fans in regards to domestic violence
could make those people feel better about following the NFL (Johnson, 2014).
The Ray Rice domestic violence case continues to be a major issue within the
NFL. Renovations on the domestic violence problems continue to be worked on by the
league. Hopefully, this public relations disaster has been a learning experience for the
league so that if another situation like this arises it will be handled better and will not hurt
the NFLs reputation.

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Works Cited
Bien, L. (2014, November 28). A complete timeline of the Ray Rice assault case.
Retrieved February 16, 2016, from
http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2014/5/23/5744964/ray-rice-arrest-assaultstatement-apology-ravens
Golembewski, V. (2015, September 25). The NFL Is Doing Something To Stop Domestic
Violence - Is It Enough? Retrieved February 15, 2016, from
http://www.refinery29.com/2015/09/93698/nfl-domestic-violence-policies
Johnson, D. E. (2014). Ray Rice: A Public Relations Crisis for the NFL - PART II.
Retrieved February 18, 2016, from http://www.commpro.biz/public-relations/crisiscommunications/ray-rice-public-relations-debacle-ravens-nfl-part-ii/
Keneally, M. (2014, September 19). How the NFL Has Punished Players Arrested for
Domestic Violence. Retrieved February 17, 2016, from
http://abcnews.go.com/US/nfl-punished-players-arrested-domestic-violencegoodell-era/story?id=25534452
Pennington, B., & Eder, S. (2014, September 19). In Domestic Violence Cases, N.F.L.
Has a History of Lenience 155. Retrieved February 16, 2016, from
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/09/20/sports/football/in-domestic-violence-casesnfl-has-a-history-of lenience.html?
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