NFL owners meeting sets stage for key questions as 49ers owner comes off suspension
The NFL rarely needs help finding reasons to talk about its future.Another regular-season game.
Another international market.Another opportunity to make the biggest business in American sports even bigger.But when owners gather Tuesday and Wednesday in New York for their fall meetings, some of the most important questions will involve accountability in the present.
And one potentially revealing development could be who walks through the door.49ers principal owner Jed York is eligible to return from his six-game suspension Tuesday, the same day the meetings begin.Whether he attends, what he says if he does, and how commissioner Roger Goodell and fellow owners address his return will be worth watching. Eligibility to attend, of course, is different from confirmation that he will.The timing puts an uncomfortable subject directly alongside the NFL’s familiar ambitions.York was suspended and fined $500,000 for violating the league’s personal conduct policy following his August arrest in Ohio.
The league credited him with three games already missed when it announced the punishment Oct.2.
York accepted the decision and apologized in a statement released by the team.“Today, the NFL concluded its review, and I accept its decision in full.To my family, to the players, coaches, and employees of the San Francisco 49ers, to our fans and partners, I am deeply sorry.
This was an inexcusable mistake and I take full responsibility.What I did does not reflect my values or the man I strive to be for my family.
“While I fell short of the model I want to set for my sons, I now hope to show them the importance of owning up to one’s failures, and that even our worst moments teach us to be better.Leading the 49ers is a privilege, and one I don’t take lightly.
Your trust will have to be earned back over time, and I look forward to that work ahead.”Now comes the return.The relevant questions extend beyond whether York takes his seat.Does Goodell believe the punishment ...