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Roger Goodell must testify under oath at Ray Rice reinstatement hearing
Former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice is appealing his indefinite suspension at the hands of the NFL. Now, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will have to testify at the appeal hearing in November.
Former U.S. District Judge Barbara S. Jones, the neutral arbitrator with whom both sides agreed, announced Wednesday that Goodell would have to testify, according to an AP source. Still undetermined is whether Goodell's testimony will be confidential.
NFL attorneys sought to protect Goodell from testifying, instead offering up Jeff Pash, the league's general counsel, and Adolpho Birch, the league's vice president for labor policy.
Rice was involved in an altercation with his then-fiancee´ in an Atlantic City casino in February. Rice struck his fiancee, knocking her unconscious, and the NFL initially suspended him for two games. However, when a new videotape surfaced in September, the NFL extended that suspension to "indefinite." The NFL has maintained that the videotape constituted new evidence, giving the league the right to extend the punishment for the same offense. Rice contends that Goodell knew the full extent of the evening's events when determining the first punishment.
Thus, what Goodell knew, and when he knew it, will be key questions. The NFL has maintained that Goodell did not know the full extent of Rice's actions when Goodell determined the punishment. The league bases its argument on the defense that the commissioner had not viewed the incriminating videotape and that Rice was "ambiguous," according to the league, in recounting his side of the story in a face-to-face meeting. However, Rice's attorneys say the former Raven was completely forthcoming in his meeting with Goodell, which also included Rice's now-wife Janay.
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To put it more simply: if Goodell knew of Rice's actions when levying the first punishment, Rice's attorneys can argue that Rice should not have been punished again when the videotape was made public. On a broader scale, Goodell's consistent and repeated denial of knowledge about the true extent of Rice's actions will come under scrutiny.
The hearing is scheduled for Nov. 5-6.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.
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