Seattle take on New England in what promises to be a compelling Super Bowl 49 on Sunday, but the title showcase caps a season of turmoil in the NFL.
Commissioner Roger Goodell has been at the center of the storm as the league grappled — often clumsily — with charges of violence by players against women and children that put fans and sponsors on edge.
Goodell was lashed for his handling of Ray Rice, the Baltimore Ravens running back who knocked out his then-fiancee Janay Palmer in a casino elevator.
Goodell initially banned Rice for two games, but after a video of the actual blow was later posted online, Rice was promptly cut by the Ravens and banned from the league indefinitely by Goodell.
A probe conducted by former FBI director Robert Mueller uncovered no evidence that the league had seen the video of the punch, but scolded the NFL for failing to conduct a more complete investigation.
Public outcry over that case and others — a domestic violence case involving Carolina defensive end Greg Hardy and a child-beating charge against Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson — prompted Goodell to re-evaluate the league’s personal conduct policy.
But the NFL Players Association has objected to the imposition of new standards without collective bargaining.
Indeed in November, Rice’s indefinite suspension was overturned upon appeal, and while he didn’t play in 2014 that decision was another setback for Goodell.
Peterson’s indefinite suspension, imposed after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for whipping his son with a tree branch, was upheld by an arbitrator, but is still under attack by the players’ union.
Through it all, the league’s massive popularity has remained stable.
The most-watched show in US television history was the 2014 Super Bowl, with 112 million viewers and last autumn’s most-watched television series was NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.”
With annual revenue approaching $10 billion, the NFL is America’s richest sports league, even though it continues to cope with issues over head injuries and charges of racism over its tolerance of the Washington Redskins nickname.
A whiff of scandal hovers over the championship game itself thanks to a league investigation of the Patriots, and whether they purposely under-inflated footballs in the AFC Championship triumph over Indianapolis.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said fans have a right to expect the league they follow to live up to certain standards on all of these issues.
“I think we’ve watched this whole season with the league, you’ve seen so many things happen, just as it’s happening in our culture as well,” Carroll said, adding that he believed the league was trying to get things right.
“We’re proud to have the accountability on our shoulders, but also with that we have to make the right decisions and do the right things. Hopefully, we’re doing that and we can be a symbol in that regard for everyone that’s paying attention.”