Adrian Peterson vs. the National Football League is more than one running back’s crusade to rejoin a Minnesota Vikings team that might not welcome him back.
It is a power struggle between the league and NFL Players Association over Commissioner Roger Goodell’s unilateral authority to punish players without independent oversight, rights the union failed to secure in the last collective bargaining agreement.
It is a labor dispute destined for the courthouse.
It is also a public relations battle for the hearts and minds of a society obsessed with the entertainment and commercial value of pro football — but also troubled by the wayward acts of its players.
Peterson’s career is in jeopardy after Goodell suspended him Tuesday for the rest of the 2014 season, determining the superstar violated the league’s Personal Conduct Policy for “abusive discipline” inflicted on his 4-year-old son.
The players union vowed to appeal. It accuses Goodell of arbitrarily punishing Peterson and the league of reneging on an agreement to reinstate him with the Vikings after he pleaded down a felony child abuse charge to misdemeanor assault Nov. 4 in Texas.
Announcing the punishment in a 1,500-word statement that was blunt and expansive, Goodell identified as aggravating circumstances the victim’s age, the fact he suffered injuries after being whipped by a switch and that Peterson has “shown no meaningful remorse.”
He ordered Peterson to meet with a league-appointed psychiatrist by Dec. 1 and established a timeline of therapy and behavioral benchmarks before he can apply for reinstatement April 15.
“The timing of your potential reinstatement will be based on the results of the counseling and treatment program set forth in this decision,” Goodell wrote in a letter to Peterson.
“Under this two-step approach, the precise length of the suspension will depend on your actions. We are prepared to put in place a program that can help you to succeed, but no program can succeed without your genuine and continuing engagement. You must commit yourself to your counseling and rehabilitative effort, properly care for your children, and have no further violations of law or league policy.”
Peterson was directed to meet with Dr. April Kuchuk of New York University’s Department of Psychiatry. She also is a forensic consultant to the New York City District Attorney’s Office.
The NFL said Kuchuk will schedule counseling, therapy and community service, and report to the league and players union.
“Peterson will be expected to adhere to that program,” according to the league statement.
The Vikings, who helped broker the Sept. 17 agreement with the league and players union to place Peterson on paid leave, were unwilling Tuesday to lobby to reinstate their onetime franchise player.
“We respect the league’s decision and will have no further comment at this time,” the team said.
Goodell harshly criticized Peterson’s use of corporal punishment on his son during the boy’s visit to Peterson’s home outside Houston in May.
“The difference in size and strength between you and the child is significant, and your actions clearly caused physical injury to the child,” Goodell wrote. “While an adult may have a number of options when confronted with abuse — to flee, to fight back or to seek help from law enforcement — none of those options is realistically available to a 4-year-old child.
“The injury inflicted on your son includes the emotional and psychological trauma to a young child who suffers criminal physical abuse at the hands of his father.
“You have shown no meaningful remorse for your conduct,” Goodell continued. “When indicted, you acknowledged what you did but said that you would not ‘eliminate whooping my kids’ and defended your conduct in numerous published text messages to the child’s mother. You also said that you felt ‘very confident with my actions because I know my intent.’
“These comments raise the serious concern that you do not fully appreciate the seriousness of your conduct, or even worse, that you may feel free to engage in similar conduct in the future.”
Goodell based his ruling on media reports, police and medical examiners who termed cuts to the boy’s torso, legs, buttocks and back as extensive and as “clinically diagnostic of child physical abuse.”
Goodell and Peterson failed to meet at a disciplinary meeting last week, and the players union filed a grievance, accusing the league of reneging on an agreement to reinstate Peterson from paid leave after he resolved his criminal case.
An arbitrator ruled against the union Tuesday, allowing Peterson to remain on the Commissioner’s Exempt list and to continue earning his $691,000 weekly salary.
Union executive director DeMaurice Smith said Goodell overreached in his punishment and violated collectively bargained protocol. Smith said an independent arbitrator should hear Peterson’s appeal.
“Adrian expected to be treated fairly by the NFL, and he wasn’t,” he said.
At issue is Goodell’s authority to enforce the Personal Conduct Policy, which owners strengthened in August in the wake of the Ray Rice scandal.
A minimum six-game suspension can be imposed for offenses including assault, battery or domestic violence, with “aggravating circumstances that would warrant higher levels of discipline,” the NFL said.
Smith said “litigation was inevitable” in fighting for Peterson.
But the players union does not have much leverage beyond the bully pulpit to demand an independent arbitrator through a lawsuit, two leading sports law professors said.
“I would be very surprised if an outside arbitrator was brought in to hear this case,” said Roger Abrams, sports law professor at Northeastern University and a former baseball salary arbitrator.
“There is nothing the union can do under this agreement except make statements about how wonderful arbitration is, but it’s not going to change the procedure. You have to win that at the bargaining table, not the table of public opinion.”
Stephen Ross, director of Penn State’s Institute for Sports Law, Policy and Research, agreed the union is powerless to fundamentally change a labor agreement not scheduled to expire until 2020.
But he said the NFL commissioner is the only one among the four major North American sports with the power to impose and review player discipline and that the league is overdue for an independent arbitrator.
“The system of unreviewable commissioner power is not effective in the modern age,” Ross said. “It is OK for a commissioner to stake out a public relations strategy, but it might not be fair to dole out punishment.”
Follow Brian Murphy at twitter.com/murphPPress.
