The NFL’s indefinite suspensions for three players “found to have bet on football” have been criticized as “dissonant with the league’s business partnerships with betting companies,” according to Nerkar & Morgan of the N.Y. TIMES. The recent suspensions “show the league’s struggle to draw a line in its acceptance of gambling.” Though the league’s gambling policy is “detailed in Appendix A of the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement — and is included on every player contract” — players of late have “expressed misgivings about the prohibitions.” The league has said that it will “make the policy a point of emphasis, visiting teams to highlight the fine points of the rules on gambling” and “mandating that rookies attend informational sessions.” But levying strict discipline has so far been “football’s most visible attempt to ensure the competition on the field is fair and uninfluenced.” By “allowing the potential for reinstatement for players who bet on football,” the NFL “stopped short of the zero-tolerance policy that has been a bedrock” in MLB (N.Y. TIMES, 7/1).

LEAGUE’S ADVANTAGE: THE ATHLETIC’s Kalyn Kahler noted the gambling policy is “not collectively bargained,” meaning NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell “has the ultimate authority on determining player discipline.” There is “no set schedule with information on specific consequences for specific offenses,” so players and their agents “don’t know what to expect.” However, conversations between the league office and the union are the “reason why the player policy is different from the staff policy” (THE ATHLETIC, 6/30).