N.F.L. Examines Its Record on Hiring of Women in Wake of Ray Rice Case; New York Times, 9/25/14

Ken Belson, New York Times; N.F.L. Examines Its Record on Hiring of Women in Wake of Ray Rice Case:

"When N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked last week whether any women had helped him decide to suspend the former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice two games for punching his then-fiancée, he sheepishly said no.

“You’re pointing out exactly what we’re concerned about, that we didn’t have the right voices at the table,” he told the reporter. “We need to get better expertise.”

Steve Bisciotti, the owner of the Ravens, was asked a similar question this week: Were any women involved in his decision to cut Rice and terminate his contract? The answer was similar. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a female president, G.M. or coach,” Bisciotti said.

Goodell and Bisciotti were acknowledging what outside experts and even some who have worked for the N.F.L. have known for years: that the league and its 32 teams have done a poor job hiring women, a deficiency that was laid bare by Rice’s suspension.

“Until they hired a raft of consultants and promoted the woman in charge of social responsibility, it was a bunch of guys in a room,” said Jodi Balsam, a former lawyer at the N.F.L. who now teaches at Brooklyn Law School. “They didn’t have any expertise on the pathology of domestic violence. It’s not that they had bad intentions or were purposely overlooking things because they were motivated to downplay anything that would hurt the league. But they were shortsighted in not having someone in the room to help them understand the pathology.”"