NBA vs NFL: Punishments on Acts of Violence

Over the past several of weeks, the NFL has been in the spotlight in terms of domestic violence cases with a few star players.  This has been an issue in the league for many years now and has not seemed to get much better and Commissioner Roger Goodell has been very inconsistent in terms of his punishments.  But how does the domestic violence affect the NBA?

 The NBA has not been filled with much controversy in terms of domestic violence over the years.  David Stern did a great job of cleaning up players’ appearance on the bench (strict dress code) and did well to help eliminate much of the criminal activity; as a matter of fact, the biggest crime committed in recent years was Kobe Bryant and the sexual assault case in 2003.  Is it possible that the domestic violence will carry over to the NBA?

Currently, the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement states that there will be a minimum 10-game suspension for any first-time convicted violent felony.  However, commissioner Adam Silver is working on “tweaking” the rule to make it stricter.  This is something that may deter players from acting violently toward their spouse, significant other, or child.

Basketball is not known as a violent sport and does not want to have a reputation similar to that of the NFL and is doing its best to maintain a somewhat clean reputation.  Other than racking up many DUI charges, the players normally stay out of trouble and will continue doing so with a consistent punishment system in place.

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Micah Sokolsky is a Pre-Junior Sport Management major at Drexel University with minors in Spanish and Business.  Micah hails from San Francisco, CA and was a participant on Drexel Sport Management’s College Sport Research Institute (CSRI) team last year in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 2013.  Micah completed his first co-op with the Camden Riversharks minor league baseball team in their Marketing and Promotions department.  A member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity, Micah is involved on campus as the Athletics Chairman for the Inter-Fraternity Council and as a Resident Assistant in Race Hall. Connect withMicah on LinkedIn.