[Enterprise]

It boils down to this IMO. Yeah, it's sad that Ray clocked his wife. But we need him to play, there's too much money at stake. It's kind of a needs of the many outweigh the clocking of his wife kind of thing.

[Alberta's Child]

No, what it really boils down to is that the NFL and NFLPA have a labor agreement in place, and the NFL cannot suspend a player "indefinitely" without violating any number of terms of the collective bargaining agreement and even Federal labor law.

An added complication here is that Ray Rice was never employed by the NFL. He was under contract with the Baltimore Ravens.

[colorado tanker]

Gets the NFL off the hot seat. Whatever happens it's the arbitrator's doing.

I think it's OK if he plays again after paying a big penalty of some kind. I mean, the woman forgave him and still married him. He was not prosecuted. Is it the League's job to figure out if she's making clear headed decisions or not?

[Zuben Elgenubi]

A union protects its members.

How about a policeman who is guilty of wife abuse. Does he lose his means of livelyhood by being forced not to work again? Of course not.

I would admit the thick blue line is much wider than the 50 yd line.

[SeaHawkFan]

This arbitration procedure outside the CBA benefits Ray Rice. The arbitrator will have to reinstate Rice because had already been punished by being suspended for two games.

Once that penalty was imposed, that was the end of it, and the NFL knows it.

This new arbitration is all for show so the NFL can blame the obvious decision on the arbitrator.