Carolina Panthers: Jerry Richardson fined $2.75 million
Former Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson’s fine of $2.75 million closes yet another chapter surrounding racial and sexual misconduct in the NFL.
We live in a time in which accountability and punishment are front and center in professional sports. Athletes that break the law or social norms are punished through fines, suspensions and other means. Former Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson was in such a position and was hit with a $2.75 million fine for the multiple racial and sexual misconduct allegations he faced while owning the Charlotte-based team.
The announcement came this past Thursday via NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. The Panthers opened the original investigation, which was then taken over by the NFL due to the Sports Illustrated piece that revealed multiple former employees signed non-disclosure agreements with Richardson. Four employees reached financial settlements with Richardson in exchange for keeping silent about the allegations and resolutions.
The investigation was led by former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White. As reported by David Newton of ESPN, White’s investigation found that the team failed to report the allegations nor provided any information about the settlements to the league. She made recommendations based on the investigation which include the prohibition of using non-disclosure agreements to hide situations such as this, establishing a hotline for employees to report issues, requiring workplace misconduct claims to be reported to the league and review of all policies and procedures.
"“The findings and recommendations that I have shared with the Commissioner are the product of an extensive review, including interviews with club executives, current and former employees, analysis of documents, electronic records, and other sources of information,” White said in a statement. “I particularly appreciate the work of the club employees in assessing the need for enhancing the club’s workplace policies, procedures, and training and implementing appropriate changes.”"
The fine of $2.75 million is a substantial amount to many people around the world, but it’s less than five percent of the money Richardson made when the Panthers were sold to David Tepper a few short months ago. The deal, worth $2.275 billion, is a record for the NFL and is expected to close in the next few weeks.
With such a massive influx of money, some may wonder if the fine issued by the league was enough of a punishment for Richardson. When the allegations were first reported, Richardson’s immediate response was to begin the process to sell the team at the end of the season; a move that could potentially overshadow the entire investigation.
It would have been interesting to see the league not only fine Richardson, but punish the team for not reporting the allegations and settlements. Yes, Richardson opted to sell the team which disassociates him from the organization, but this was an opportunity to send a harsh message that these types of actions will not be tolerated, from player or owner alike. The NFL is struggling with the perception that it continually misses the mark when dealing with racial or sexual misconduct and this is yet another example that can fall into that bucket.
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The NFL, Carolina Panthers and Jerry Richardson can all close the book on this chapter; but that doesn’t mean the way it was handled was 100 percent correct. Hopefully, the league and teams will continue to improve the way misconduct is handled and punished to show that they are all taking a hard line opposed to these types of allegations and actions.