According to a Wednesday report by the Associated Press, an anonymous law enforcement says he sent a copy of the video showing former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punching his then-fiancée to an NFL executive five months ago.
Per the report, the person making that accusation played the Associated Press a 12-second voicemail from an NFL office number on April 9 confirming them receiving the video. A female voice expresses thanks and says: “You’re right. It’s terrible.”
Following TMZ releasing the video on Monday, the league has said it has no record of the video, and no one in the league office had seen it until it surfaced Monday online.
Rice was released by the Ravens on Monday and also suspended indefinitely by the league that same day. He had previously been given a two game suspension by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who told CBS Tuesday that “no one in the NFL, to my knowledge” had seen the video of Rice knocking out his then-fiancée in the elevator until it was posted online.
This certainly is starting to get good and it’s only going to get more interesting. Several believe that the owners will be hard pressed to get rid of Goodell, if it is proven that he is lying about not seeing the tape prior to Monday, because of all of the money he’s generated for the league.
The Ravens will host the Pittsburgh Steelers Thursday night to kickoff the second week of games and you can bet the pregame shows will be full of talk about not only the video, but whether or not the league had a copy of it prior to Monday.
