Do NFL owners deserve the same punishment as players for similar offenses?
The NFL is in an unprecedented and tricky situation at the moment. This all concerns Deshaun Watson and the ongoing hearing to determine his suspension for alleged sexual misconduct and harassment.
The situation is unprecedented because the league did not just hand down a suspension and move on. Instead, this has dragged on for months and allowed the NFLPA to devise a strategy to defend the player.
One tactic in place is to argue that he should not get a hefty suspension if owners such as Robert Kraft and Dan Snyder, who committed serious offenses, got off easy.
That raises an important question: Should owners and players be at the same standard for personal conduct? Should owners face the same suspensions as players? That is a complicated debate and one that already seems to have a clear answer.
The power that NFL owners hold protects them from more dire consequences
It is easy to say that owners should face the same punishment as players. No individual should ever be above the law. But everyone knows this is not how things work, especially in the NFL.
The owners hold all the power in the league and work together to make the most money possible. That means they will not hand out serious suspensions to one another and cast a dark spot on the league.
Fans may then ask if Commissioner Roger Goodell could intervene. Well, his job is to be the voice for the owners and do their bidding. He is not a neutral figure in the league at all. The owners entrust him to run the league and make the most money possible.
It is an unfortunate truth that those rich enough to be owners in the NFL have special privileges. Just look at how long it took for Snyder to get investigated for his toxic workplace seriously. It took the United States Congress to get involved for any real progress. Even then, he is trying to avoid answering for his alleged misconduct.
The only real way to punish owners is to fine them, similar to how a suspension takes money out of a player's pocket. But it would take a massive fine to hurt a billionaire financially. The last thing the league is going to do is hand out a $250 million penalty. That would never fly with the owners, and none of them would want such a precedent.
The players have every right to argue that Watson and the owners should be punished equally. Yet the reality is that the league and the world do not work in that manner.