Goodell cracks down on cheating, whines about cable access

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is shooting .500 this week.

He announced plans to crack down on spying with extra inspections and harsher penalties following the embarrassment that was dealing with the New England Patriots taping of opponents this past season.

Inspections, according to media accounts, could be unannounced and would include locker rooms, coaching areas and press boxes, and would utilize a lower standard of proof for imposing discipline.

The loss of draft choices would still be a strong possibility, as happened in the Patriots situation. The team forfeited its first round draft pick next month for violations.

I think some of these rules are a bit overblown. If a team can photograph signals and decode them into something usable while a game is still going on I almost think they should be rewarded. That said, if it’s going to be against the rules the standards should be set, the investigatory techniques should be strong and the punishments should be swift and painful, and Goodell has been in front of this issue.

Goodell’s crack down on cable operators during a congressional hearing earlier in the week was a bit more laughable. He testified, according to Reuters, that the Federal Communications Commission should take strong action against cable companies he claims are using their position in the market to “discriminate against independent programmers” like the NFL Network.

The league has been trying to achieve broader exposure for its network. But it claims cable operators unfairly give their own affiliated channels a leg up through better channel placement and financial terms. Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable offer NFL Network only through added sports programming tiers that cost subscribers extra.

Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Florida, questioned why the government should get involved in a private business dispute. And Comcast spokesman John Demming said the sports tier is the fairest way to provide the service – those who want it pay for it, those who don’t want it don’t have to pay extra.

Lord knows I’ve had my issues with Comcast. My cable bill skyrocketed after the company took over my local Time Warner outlet. And they subtracted several stations off of my basic package, as well. NFL Network is one of the reasons I switched to DirecTV in the first place.

But why is the NFL, the most successful and powerful of the major professional sports, so adamant about maintaining its antitrust exemption when it comes to negotiating exclusive sports packages, such as DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket – a package that allows fans to watch games outside their regional market – but when things don’t go their way with the basic cable negotiations it’s time for Congress to intervene?

Just curious.