NFL Owners Unanimously Pass New Personal Conduct Policy

The National Football League (NFL) has passed a new personal conduct policy for players and employees on Wednesday. The policy was approved unanimously by all 32 league owners.

"With considerable assistance from the many people and organizations we consulted, NFL ownership has endorsed an enhanced policy that is significantly more robust, thorough, and formal," Commissioner Roger Goodell said in the news release. "We now have a layered evaluation process to take into account a diversity of expert views. This will better enable us to make appropriate decisions and ensure accountability for everyone involved in the process."

"Throughout my business career I've had a number of different companies," Houston Texans owner Robert McNair added according to the Washington Post. "We've always had values and mission statements and conduct standards that were extremely important to us as to how we run our business. We're doing the same thing here in the NFL. We've spent a lot of time on this. I think that the most important part of it is that this is not a policy that is directed at the players. This is a policy that covers all of us."

The policy will take away initial disciplinary rulings related to cases of misconduct from the commissioner. The league will be in charge of hiring a disciplinary officer who will be responsible for monitoring investigations related to misconduct as well as making initial disciplinary rulings. The league has not set a firm timetable for hiring the disciplinary officer.

"That's not a change," commented NFL chief counsel, Jeff Pash, who estimated that the majority of initial disciplinary rulings in the past have made by someone other than the commissioner. "All that we're doing is having a different member of the commissioner's staff make a decision."

Goodell will still be in charge of hearing and resolving appeals related to these rulings. The revisions were passed during a one-day meeting held in Dallas, TX.

The NFL Player Association is expected to dispute the policy. Some sources reported that a legal challenge is also a possibility. The union reportedly wants to bring in an independent arbitrator as opposed to one selected by the league to hear all appeals.

"Our union has not been offered the professional courtesy of seeing the NFL's new personal conduct policy before it hit the presses," The NFL Player Association wrote in a statement. "Their unilateral decision and conduct today is the only thing that has been consistent over the past few months."

Pash responded, "The union knows every element of what we've been talking about."

The policy comes after multiple parties criticized the league for how it handled legal situations, such as the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson cases. It will go into effect immediately.

To see how the new personal conduct policy would work, click here. The actual policy can be accessed here.