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I am neither a big fan of the National Football League (NFL) nor a big follower of professional football. I watch and follow mostly college football.
However, unless one lives under a rock and in Timbuktu, the recent domestic violence incidents in the NFL are bound to have captured everyone’s attention, including this non-NFL fan and the Department of Defense (DOD).
Why would DOD — which has its own problems in related departments — get involved?
Well, perhaps because — notwithstanding “other problems” — the military has a zero-tolerance policy for domestic abuse and because, according to CNN, the military “has a high-profile relationship with the NFL that goes back decades.”
Such a high profile relationship includes the military “providing ceremonial units at games for colors ceremonies; military personnel singing the national anthem, and other units providing drill teams or flyovers. Military personnel, including wounded warriors, often appear at NFL events honoring those who serve.”
In addition, the Army and the NFL have an agreement to share information and resources to better understand traumatic brain injury — a major medical issue both for wounded troops and football players — and an area where the military has a lot of “lessons learnt” from the last 13 years of war, according to CNN.
And, of course, there is the money. CNN:
The Army alone spends some $10 million a year buying advertising from television networks broadcasting NFL games. Games are also broadcast by the Armed Forces Network to troops deployed overseas.
Thus, says CNN, “Any Pentagon action to cut back support for the NFL would be the most direct involvement by the Obama administration yet in the scandal.”
So, where and how is DOD getting involved in the NFL domestic violence scandal?
Again, CNN:
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has asked his staff for detailed information about the U.S. military’s relationships with the National Football League in the wake of the scandal over how the league is handling domestic-abuse allegations against players.
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The Pentagon is increasingly sensitive to any suggestion it is supporting a major sports organization that is perceived to tolerate domestic violence.
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“The secretary wants to fully understand that relationship, in case he decides to make some changes to it,” a senior defense official told CNN.
Perhaps reacting to such reports, the Pentagon says that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has not ordered a review or an investigation of the Defense Department’s relationship with the National Football League.
Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said today, “There is no study being done by the Pentagon on the National Football League or our involvement with the National Football League…Secretary Hagel, just like every leader in this building, is monitoring the situation ongoing with the NFL.”
The Pentagon statement adds:
“No one takes issues of violence or sexual assault more seriously than DOD, Kirby said. “We have more work to do, and we know that. “We also have high expectations … of organizations that we partner with. And so the secretary is viewing with concern what he has seen the National Football League go through. That’s why he’s asking questions about the full scope of our interaction with them.”
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DOD has many contacts with the NFL, running from service members who present the colors at football games to serious research into concussions and traumatic brain injury that service members and football players suffer in common.
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“I think the secretary just wants to get a sense of the depth and the scope of the interaction,” Kirby said. “That’s all that’s going on. It’s not a review.”
So there you have it: No review, no investigation, just an understandable desire for assessing the extent of the problem, because of the close relationships, because of the military’s zero tolerance policy on domestic abuse and because of DOD’s own lessons learnt and priorities on sexual abuse.
Lead image: www.shutterstock.com
