Integrity an afterthought in sports when it comes to punishing assault

Place a bet on your own team and face a two-year suspension. Assault someone, however, and you can be back on the field six games later. These specific policies belong to the NFL, but the league is by no means an outlier. Sports organizations have displayed a concerning level of antipathy toward domestic violence and sexual abuse for decades. Sweeping allegations and evidence under the rug has become second nature to teams seeking to avoid a public relations nightmare when one of their players is in the hot seat. As a result, abuse has become a part of sports culture. It’s a systemic issue that starts when athletes are young and is perpetuated by upper management who are complicit in letting accused athletes walk away unaffected. Drastic reform in the handling of such incidents must be a priority for leagues moving forward, for the sake of the su ...