In an article for Minnpost today, Doug Grow asked whether the Adrian Peterson case will cost the Vikings. I'd like to widen the lens on that issue a bit and ask a larger question. Will the Peterson story—on top of the Ray Rice story, the Ray McDonald story, and the Greg Hardy story (not to mention the overlooked one-in-three players likely to suffer from brain trauma story)—cost the NFL? The likely answer is no.
There will certainly be short term consequences for both the team and the league in the wake of the team's decision to activate Peterson for Sunday's game. Earlier today, hotel chain Radisson announced it was suspending its limited sponsorship of the team, and Nike stores in the Mall of America began removing Adrian Peterson Vikings jerseys. Governor Dayton, a man who spent a lot of political capital to get partial state funding for the new Vikings stadium, called Adrian Peterson a public embarrassment to Minnesota. U.S. Bank, who many believe will ultimately buy the naming rights for said new Vikings stadium, said it will continue to monitor the situation.
Reaction from league sponsors to these recent stories hasn't been quite as strong. Long-time NFL sponsor AnheuserBusch released a rather tepid statement of disapproval, saying "we are not yet satisfied with the league's handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code." Still, the fact that they said anything that could possibly upset the NFL should be of concern to league officials.
[Note: Early Wednesday morning, the Vikings reversed course and put Adrian Peterson on something called the exempt/commissioner's permission list, which will keep him away from the team until the legal process is settled.]
In the long run, though, I think we can all be fairly certain that Anheuser Busch will continue to be an NFL sponsor, and that A-B products will continue to flow from the taps at NFL stadiums across the land. Just as we can be sure that Radisson will at some point come back to th w home of the Vikings. Why? Because all is ultimately forgiven in sports.
To be sure, many Vikings fans are likely done with Adrian Peterson. I'd count myself among that group. I'll let others engage in the debate over the merits of discipline and corporal punishment, and the role of culture. For me, hitting a 4-year-old with a tree branch until they bleed is child abuse. Whether a jury in Texas believes that to be the case remains to be seen. But I don't believe he should play again until that gets sorted out. And once it does, then he needs to get some parenting help.
But what's interesting to me is the moral and ethical gymnastics that sports fans perform when it comes to cases like this. I'd like to believe the majority of Vikings fans were appalled by this story, and I'd be willing to bet that if the perpetrator were a Target executive, or a politician, or a teacher, they'd expect (and perhaps demand) that the person be fired from their job immediately. But when it comes to a star athlete, we suddenly start talking about due process and rush to judgement. That's exactly what we've seen from some fans in the Adrian Peterson case. Ultimately what matters to us most is this: Our team needs him!
This attitude has always distorted the way fans view athletes and criminal behavior. As a sports fan myself, I'm no less guilty. In other cases of athletes-gone-wrong, I've found myself willing to give the accused the benefit of the doubt. There's even a part of me that feels some sadness for Adrian Peterson, that this incident will tarnish what seemed destined to be a legendary career, one that he worked very hard to achieve. Would I feel the same sympathy for your average citizen accused of a similar crime? Likely not.
I wish I better understood the psychology behind this, but I have some ideas. To some extent, sports has always been seen as a refuge from the messiness of the world and our lives. Call it our bread and circus if you want, but I've always thought that term has an air of moral superiority to it. Yes, we like the entertainment, but we also crave the clarity of sports. Teams win or lose. Players either succeed or they fail. There is no nuance in the final score. And we don't want that clarity to be muddied by the issues and problems that plague our society. When those problems encroach on the playing field, what we really want to say is "can't we just go back to talking about the game?"
That's the refrain you've been hearing from a lot of football fans over the last few days. And while many are disgusted by Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice, and perhaps more than a few are concerned about brain damage among players, they'll see their way through the current storm with their fan-dom intact. And when this all blows over, some might be bigger fans than ever. Because many need this game in their lives. And that's why, in the long run, these stories won't cost the NFL a dime.
Well said, Chris.
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