Goodell: Integrity of game at stake

Earlier this month, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell circulated a memo to address the most sacrosanct notion in sports. It was time, Goodell wrote, "to preserve the competitive integrity of the game."

The memo grew from an unusually dark year for the NFL, one in which Goodell punished two franchises for cheating. The New England Patriots admitted to videotaping the defensive signals of opponents, while the San Francisco 49ers were caught tampering with another team's player -- crimes that carried the league into dangerous waters.

Namely: Is the NFL's competition regulated by a set of enforced rules that guarantee fair outcomes?

Goodell remains confident of the league's core integrity, but his memo noted the need to "maintain public confidence in our game." As a result, Goodell plans to discuss rule changes and new enforcement ultimatums when he gathers owners in Palm Beach, Fla., this week for the NFL's annual meetings.

"We're looking forward to trying to get better," said Ray Anderson, the league's senior vice president of football operations and Goodell's point man on the issue.

"It would be naïve to think that our house has been pure forever," Anderson added. "But we are compelled to move forward. And certainly the incidents of this year probably accelerated the urgency with regard to doing everything you possibly can going forward to maintain and, in fact, enhance the belief and the confidence of our fans that we're having a pure game and we aren't tainted."

As punishment for what has become known as "Spygate," Goodell seized one of the Patriots' first-round draft choices and fined coach Bill Belichick. The Patriots could face additional punishment if new information surfaces.

Leaguewide, Goodell is urging a rule change that would eliminate the need for defensive coaches to manually signal their calls. If passed, each team could transmit signals through a microphone inserted in the helmet of a defensive player -- much the way offensive calls are made to the quarterback.

Owners have voted down similar proposals from the competition committee in recent years, but this one appears a near certainty to pass.

"You've got to make fans assured that you are paying attention to the issue and that you are directing as much energy as you can to the issue," said Atlanta Falcons President Rich McKay, who also is co-chairman of the competition committee. "I don't believe there is a [widespread] problem, but I do believe that because of the situation that occurred, we owe it to our game and to our fans to try to enact as much as we need to make sure people are comfortable that this was an isolated incident that's behind us."

The specific act of videotaping signals is only one of several technology-related scams Goodell hopes to abolish. For example, there long have been allegations of teams jamming their opponents' headsets, while other teams have been accused of pumping artificial noise over stadium speakers. Both are in violation of NFL rules, but only now does the league appear determined to enforce them.

According to Anderson, Goodell will enact several changes to address such matters:

• Launching unannounced inspections of team facilities, equipment and technology.

• Lowering the burden of proof for discipline. Instead of needing proof beyond a reasonable doubt, as league policy requires, Goodell will pursue the weaker standard known as "preponderance of evidence."

• Requiring an owner or senior executive to certify compliance with all league rules, similar to formal auditing practices.

• Developing a mechanism for whistle-blowing that allows "strict confidentiality," according to Anderson.

"The commissioner's charge here is to face your problems head on and get on with it," Anderson said. "So if there is an issue, if there are concerns, we're not going to pretend they don't exist."

That sentiment is a change from recent years, when the league appeared to look the other way when it came to relatively benign rules such as tampering. Under tampering rules, teams cannot discuss a possible contract with pending free agents until the official start of the free-agent period.

But after years of announcing complex deals within hours of the market opening, it became clear that teams and agents were privately discussing contract parameters before league rules allowed.

With a push from Goodell, the competition committee has proposed a moratorium of five to seven days before the start of free agency. Teams could negotiate with the agents of pending free agents, but players could not sign a contract until the market opened.

The proposal likely won't be voted on until May, but McKay said it will provide a legal and structured way to hold premarket conversations and eliminate the incentive to tamper.

Anderson, a former agent himself, said the rule change "makes sense" given what he observed was "quite a bit of activity in the agent community" before free agency began.

"Integrity of the game and fair competition," Anderson said, "is a critical theme for us."