NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will finally have a press conference after the Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson and Greg Hardy scandals and live stream coverage will be on ESPN, WatchESPN, NBC Sports Network, the NFL Network and other media outlets as Goodell addresses these issues for the first time with an open media session and it starts up at 3 pm ET.
Goodell has been under fire for a while now and he will have to answer a ton of questions from the media and while many have called for him to resign, there is almost no chance he will do that. The NFL may have a good press conference here, but even with that, they are screwing up again, because everyone knows why news comes down on a Friday afternoon. The NFL has been pathetic in their explanations about the Ray Rice situation and now Goodell likely will deflect from that because of the investigation going on.
What the NFL really can't afford is another PR debacle and while Goodell coming out of his cocoon finally is a good thing, there is plenty of risk here. Goodell likely will talk about all the new partnerships the league is making with domestic violence groups and new hiring of women, but that will not shed light on what Goodell did with Ray Rice, which of course is the nexus of all of this.
The presser is in NY and all the new channels and cable networks are covering it along with the sports networks and that shows how far this story has gotten away from the NFL. The league literally has screwed up every decision regarding the Ray Rice situation and that includes Goodell sitting down for a CBS interview and other things that the league has done regarding the punishment. Goodell doesn't necessarily need to resign, but he needs to be straight up about what he knew and when he knew it, because the NFL not seeing the Ray Rice tape or at least trying to get it on their own seems ridiculous.
The AP report and the independent investigation that was called took some of the heat off, but now that investigation is ongoing and there are still results there that could damage the league and Goodell. The owners are the only ones who can do anything regarding Goodell and since they are all rich billionaires they will not be letting him go. The NFL's arrogance has put them in this situation with all these players and this is a well-deserved comeuppance for Goodell and the league itself.
The NFL should be embarrassed on all counts about the way this has gone and now they have the chance to do more damage control. The questions likely will be tough from some media members, but will they be from NFL partners like FOX, CBS, ESPN or NBC? We shall see. The coverage is all over the place and starts up around 3 pm ET.