Tom Powers: Minnesota teaches the NFL a lesson

It is without question a landmark development. Someone finally stood up the National Football League, and like most bullies when unmasked, the league backed down.
And so the People v. Minnesota Vikings has come to an unexpected climax. Vikings ownership has conceded defeat. Zygi and Mark Wilf, after two days of being buffeted by the winds of public discontent, appeared before the TV cameras and tape recorders on Wednesday and took it all back.
Adrian Peterson has been banished.
“We take very seriously these types of things,” Mark Wilf said. “Especially when we’re talking about children.”
He is taking it much more seriously ever since the collective foot of angry corporate sponsors was strategically launched at his backside. Meanwhile, it was noted that his brother Zygi never even sat down during the news conference, no doubt a testament to the damage done to his hind quarters.
This is unprecedented. Nobody pushes the NFL around. Instead, it’s the league that usually does the shoving. From stadium demands to exorbitant personal seat licenses to the nasty habit of sweeping antisocial behavior under the rug, the NFL always has made its own rules. Not this time.
This time the local community, its standards violated, leaped high and nipped the behemoth on the ankle. Suddenly, the Vikings, and the entire NFL, were staggered by the mouse that roared. The white flag was raised.
Mark Wilf said he appreciated all the, uh, input from fans, elected officials and sponsors.
“In the end, however, as ownership, as stewards of this great franchise, we had to make the right decision,” he said. “And whatever it took to get us there, we were going to get there.”
Which is a good point, even though it took a mob carrying torches and pitchforks to get them there.
This is kind of a proud moment for the citizenry. A large number of people did not think Peterson should be allowed to represent their hometown team after being arrested on charges of child abuse. So they wrote and emailed the team, voiced their displeasure on talk shows and internet forums, and vowed to boycott Vikings goods and services.
When it became clear that this was not going to go away, local sponsors and politicians also got involved. My guess is that when national sponsors began to express discontent with the Wilfs’ handling of the situation, owners all over the league took note. Legitimately threaten to disrupt the cash flow and suddenly the problem becomes much more serious.
I’ll bet several other owners got on the phone and declared: “Zygi, make this go away.”
This is different than the Ray Rice incident, too. With Rice, new video evidence became available. It was at that point that Commissioner Roger Goodell reversed himself and increased Rice’s suspension. Then, and only then, did the Baltimore Ravens act and jettison Rice.
With Peterson, many folks were furious at the original decision to let him play. They just stayed after it until they got the team to knuckle under. It was an unwavering insistence on the Vikings doing the decent thing. And in the end, their demands were met.
The Wilfs were correct Wednesday when they insisted that the only thing that mattered was getting it right. There still is plenty of spin going on. Peterson’s representatives released a statement saying, basically, that it was the player’s idea to leave the team while his case works through the courts. That’s baloney, of course, and the Vikings said so.
The Wilfs also would have people believe that they were not pressured into reversing themselves. Instead, they laid out a scenario in which they just kept thinking about the situation, on their own, and finally decided that maybe they shouldn’t have reinstated Peterson in the first place. Apparently, that came to them during the course of their everyday routine, like a thunderclap in a cloudy sky.
Whatever, they got it right, whether they were shamed into it or not. That’s what matters. Meanwhile, this could be the start of something big. Semi-organized discontent has just brought an NFL club to its knees. So it can be done, at least in matters concerning decency and community standards.
Perhaps it can be applied to other areas, too. How much do the Wilfs want for those personal seat licenses in the new stadium?