And just when it appears that public opinion would begin to swing firmly in the favor of the owners, the National Football League drop kicks the pendulum in the other direction.
Alex Marvez of FOXSports.com reports that the NFL intends to enforce the personal conduct policy against any players who find trouble, or vice versa, during the lockout.
“While players won’t be able to get the benefit of our evaluation and counseling program during the work stoppage, the personal conduct of players and employees is an integrity-of-the-game issue,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Marvez. “Any misconduct that is detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the NFL will certainly be addressed when play resumes.”
In that case, the NFL should find itself to be in violation of its own policy, because this blatant effort to have it both ways is indeed detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the NFL. Put simply, the league wants to hold players accountable for the things they do away from work at a time when the league is preventing them from working.
Suddenly, we have a better understanding as to why the NFL saw no problem with using its duty to maximize TV revenue as a tool for generating a lockout war chest.