Rice, NFL Players Association Have Until Midnight Tuesday To Appeal
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Countdown to an appeal. Ray Rice and the NFL Players' Union now have until midnight to file an appeal to his suspension and multiple sources believe they will fight it together.
Investigator Mike Hellgren has more on where things stand.
No formal appeal has been filed yet---but the union and Rice have until midnight Tuesday to get it in. Their strategy could hinge on whether it's okay to punish a player twice for the same offense.
It's Ray Rice and the players' association vs. Roger Goodell and the NFL. Winning an appeal could come down to who's telling the truth about the elevator video: Rice, who says he came clean about the punch, or Goodell, who says he did not.
Sources within the union believe Rice's new, harsher punishment violates the collective bargaining agreement. The Associated Press is reporting that the appeal will be filed sometime Tuesday.
"They will fight the idea of double jeopardy here. They will turn to the CBA, some articles in the CBA that say a team and the league can't punish a player for the same incident and they believe a player can't be suspended twice for his same actions," said Jason La Canfora, CBS Sports.
But Goodell still has the upper hand. Because this is a violation of the personal conduct policy, he will be the final decider of any appeal.
After initially suspending Rice for two games, the commissioner changed that to an indefinite suspension and the Ravens terminated Rice's $35 million contract---all as the TMZ video fanned the flames of intense outrage---a lot of it directed at the league.
"There have been 14 instances of domestic violence in the NFL over the last two years. There will be more and more of these cases and each one of these will be based individually," said Jon Wertheim, senior editor of Sports Illustrated.
"Whether we are talking about the league's personal conduct policy or the new domestic violence policy where there isn't clarity as to what is an offense," said sports law expert Michael McCann.
"I think they did him wrong because that is double jeopardy," said Buddy.
"He was punished once and then they came back and did the second punishment. I think he should file the appeal," said Jen Raihl.
"It was wrong from the beginning and now they're trying to make it right which is just wrong again," said Eddie Embrey.
We will update you on any developments in this case.
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