Good Grief, NFL

Okay, so it's pretty likely that you have heard of the Ray Rice/NFL scandal that's going on at the moment. Just in case, let me fill you in.

Ray Rice is a running back for the Baltimore Ravens. Earlier this year, Rice was arrested and charged with assault after him and his then fiancé, Janay Palmer, were involved in a physical altercation in the elevator of Revel Casino. The NFL suspended the player for only two games, and then allowed him return to play for the Ravens.

On September 8, TMZ released video footage of the incident, which shows Rice knocking out Palmer and then dragging her out of the elevator. The video caused fans to question and criticize the morality of the Baltimore Ravens and the NFL for allowing Rice to keep playing. As a result of all the backlash, the Ravens terminated Rice's contract, and the NFL suspended him indefinitely.

Now, the NFL is under a lot of scrutiny for two reasons:
1. Rice's 2-game suspension was nothing more than a slap on the wrist, and many people think that it was an inadequate punishment for the acts he had committed.

2. The Baltimore Ravens and the NFL only took a stronger action against Rice once the TMZ video was released. This made the NFL look like it had not care to investigate the case thoroughly enough, or it had already gotten its hands on the footage and overlooked the brevity of the manner.

The other individual coming under fire is the NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, who initially gave Rice the mere 2-game suspension.

There's absolutely no up side for the NFL or Goodell at the moment,  and it is safe to assume that it's PR team is in deep crisis mode. No PR team in the world can right the wrongs that have already been committed, but there are ways to entice the public to forgive the NFL for these events.

Step 1: Apologize, apologize, apologize, and then apologize some more. This won't change anything, but it shows that the NFL acknowledges the bad judgment call that was made when initiating the 2-game suspension to Rice.

Step 2: Enforce a stricter "no tolerance" policy on domestic violence. Currently, the NFL's punishment for a player who is charged with assault is a 6-game suspension. This punishment still seems mediocre compared to the charges. It is my recommendation that the NFL implement a "no tolerance" policy against players who are officially charged with assault in an instance of domestic violence.

Step 3: The NFL must make a generous donation to a charity that supports women who have been abused by their significant others, such as the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The donation will symbolize the organization's sorrow and deep regret for the mishandling of the Ray Rice debacle. However, the key to making this donation a successful tactic, is to not make a big show out of it so that the organization does not look like it's trying to get attention. Instead, the NFL should urge its fans to follow suit in support of the National Coalition of Domestic Violence, which also gives the NFL the opportunity to reach out to its female audience.

There's really no way that the NFL can survive this scandal without obtaining a couple bruises. In time, those bruises will fade, and the public will eventually forget that this ever happened. It is the duty of the NFL's PR team, however, to make sure that the organization comes out on top. This can be done by implementing the tactics above in order to achieve the public's forgiveness.