Ben and the TV ratings

Does anybody see that the Roethlisberger thing is about ratings? Tiger Woods' return to the Masters caused an increase in TV ratings by 45 percent.

Goodell and his TV consultant made the calculation: How can we use this to attract the biggest TV audience possible? Bring him back just in time for them to play the defending super bowl champs. Would have been probably the highest rated evening game of the year anyway because of the Steelers' national popularity, but now, it has a chance to be the record NFL night game for TV audience. The alternatives, a few weeks before and after, the "punishment" would have been roughly as severe, but the benefit to the league from the standpoint of all of the publicity would have been less...

So Bravo to them for what looks like a pretty solid business plan.

As to the moral outrage, if they had been really serious, they would have thrown him out of the league permanently, thus serving as an example for others.... there are plenty of pigs and thugs now playing in the NFL... the last several years there have been shootings and plenty of other incidents....

As it is, they can use this to enhance the soap-opera quality of their product, attract viewers (Ben haters) that would otherwise ignore it, and use it to enhance their revenue....This is almost a WWE-type scenario, I believe. Life imitating art once again