"In this arbitration, the NFL argues that Commissioner Goodell was misled when he disciplined Rice the first time. Because, after careful consideration of all of the evidence, I am not persuaded that Rice lied to, or misled, the NFL at his June interview, I find that the indefinite suspension was an abuse of discretion and must be vacated," Jones' decision stated.

"I find that the NFLPA carried its burden of showing that Rice did not mislead the Commissioner at the June 16th meeting, and therefore, that the imposition of a second suspension based on the same incident and the same known facts about the incident, was arbitrary," Jones also wrote.

"The Commissioner needed to be fair and consistent in his imposition of discipline.
"Moreover, any failure on the part of the League to understand the level of violence was not due to Rice's description of the event but to the inadequacy of words to convey the seriousness of domestic violence. That the League did not realize the severity of the conduct without a visual record also speaks to their admitted failure in the past to sanction this type of conduct more severely."
The sole issue in this matter is whether what Rice told the Commissioner and other
League representatives about the assault at their June 16, 2014 meeting was “a starkly different
sequence of events” than what was captured on the “inside-the-elevator” video. It was not. In so
holding, I find that the NFLPA has carried its burden of demonstrating that Rice did not mislead
the Commissioner at the June 16 meeting and, therefore, that the imposition of a second
suspension based upon the same incident, and the same known facts about that incident, was
arbitrary.

Rice testified that he told the Commissioner the following: after an argument at the
restaurant, as Rice approached the elevator bank, Mrs. Rice followed him and was yelling at him.
Tr. 468:2-5. She was cursing and trying to snatch his phone, and he said something vulgar to
her. Tr. 468:5-7. He then gestured at her, and she slapped him. Tr. 468:9-10. He started10
walking to the elevator, and she went ahead of him. In the elevator, he made another gesture at
her and again said something vulgar, and she hit him. Tr. 468:11-16. As Rice testified at the
arbitration hearing, he then told the Commissioner, “I hit her, [when] she was coming back
towards me. . . . and I hit her, and she went down and she hit her head, and then by the time the
elevator got up, the elevator opened, a security guard was right there and he said, after I was
dragging her out, ‘you had assaulted her, get away from her.’” Tr. 468:16-25. At the arbitration
hearing, Rice demonstrated with his left arm how he hit Mrs. Rice that night, swinging it in an
arc across his body with his hand open. Tr. 470:9-21. More significantly, he testified that he had
given the same demonstration at the June 16 meeting when he told the Commissioner about the
events, making it clear that his arm “came across” his body and hit her. Tr. 468:17-18; 470:9-21.
Birch did not pose any questions to follow up on Rice’s description of the assault. Tr. 303:16-
304:15; 341:7-10; 347:2-10; 513:18-25; see also Tr. 150:6-9.

Summary of the Ruling:
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