RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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ATLANTA—The NFL and its players collaborated on two significant developments unveiled Wednesday. The league eliminated its Pro Bowl game and implemented a player-accountability system that will result in an automatic one-game suspension for any player who violates specified safety rules three times this season.
The NFL scrapped the Pro Bowl after years of searching for ways to make the game more competitive and more appealing to fans. Most recently, the league converted the event to a flag football game, accompanied by skills competitions.
“I think we’ve been focused on the game,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said at the completion of a one-day owners’ meeting at an airport hotel in Atlanta. “You’ve heard me say it for many years about the quality of the game in the Pro Bowl: I don’t think it’s up to NFL standards.”
The league will continue to select and honor Pro Bowl players. It said it will choose 88 Pro Bowlers annually, without having to name replacements as it did in previous years when players withdrew from game participation. This season’s Pro Bowl players will be honored next year with a celebration in Los Angeles, the NFL said.
“I think this is something that we talked to our players about, the Pro Bowl players in particular,” Goodell said. “We had conference calls the last couple years: ‘What’s working? What’s not? What would you like to see?’ And the number one thing that came out… is: ‘We want to be honored and celebrated as a Pro Bowl player.’… It just opened my eyes. I never really thought about it in the context of that. It’s not honoring the replacement players. It’s honoring the guys who are selected by the fans, by the players, by the coaches.”
Players were adamant that they could not play in a competitive all-star game following the completion of the season, according to Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations.
“They made that extremely clear on our calls and our discussions: ‘When our playoff run is over, our season ends. I don’t want to compete anymore,’ ” Vincent said.
The NFL said it remains committed to supporting flag football, although that format no longer will be on display in the Pro Bowl.
“That was really the core of it, is: How do we do this in the right way?” Goodell said. “And our players, you know, they did what they normally do. They had great recommendations on how to do that.”
Player Accountability
The NFL and the NFL Players Association also announced their new accountability system in a joint statement. Under it, a player who violates player-safety rules three times this season will automatically be suspended for one game. Players will have the right to appeal any fines for infractions to hearing officers jointly appointed by the NFL and NFLPA.
Under the new system, any player who commits only one violation this season will have half his fine from that infraction refunded at season’s end.
The player-safety violations covered by the new system include hip-drop tackles; horse-collar tackles; launching; illegal hits on players considered defenseless, such as a quarterback throwing a pass or a receiver in the process of making a catch; and illegal blindside blocks.
“The accountability is really the discipline process,” Goodell said. “We’re not looking to fine [players]…. We want to change behavior to make the game safer and have players using the proper techniques. And when they don’t, we need to address that.”
The league and union said in their joint statement that they’d worked on the new system for “the last several months.” Team-by-team player representatives for the NFLPA were briefed and voted to approve the new system Tuesday. Owners were told about it during Wednesday’s meeting.
“We also wanted to get the union’s perspective: How can we do this the right way?” Goodell said. “Plus we’re obligated and feel it’s the best way to do it, within the context of collective bargaining. So it was a really healthy process. Listen, I think probably both sides would probably say, ‘This might work better or this.’ But we made an agreement that let’s try this. Let’s learn from it. And we’ll sit down and look at it at the end of the year.”
The system is designed to punish repeat offenders and help one-time offenders.
According to a source on the players’ side, an average of about $1.7 million would have been returned annually to players if this system had been in effect in recent seasons. About 250 players would have qualified for a refund annually, based on the last two seasons. One player would have been suspended in each of the past two seasons under this system.
The system is in effect for this season only and then will be reevaluated.
“Just to see if it works,” Vincent said.
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