NFL's handling of Ray Rice situation getting uglier by the minute

Roger Goodell and the NFL are in quite the firestorm right now. It's not 49ers specific news, but it's big enough that I figured I would open up a thread for some discussion.

The latest news from the Associated Press is that a law enforcement official claims to have sent the NFL the elevator video of Ray Rice knocking out his then fiancee. This comes after the NFL has repeatedly denied having seen it before Monday. Roger Goodell went on CBS and claimed as much saying, nobody in the NFL saw the video before Monday. Of course, he couched that with a "to my knowledge", so plausible deniability does remain intact.

This whole situation is a mess, and even though the NFL has seemingly done whatever they want, this very well could take down Goodell. I can't remember the last time a commissioner was in this much hot water, but I would be kind of surprised if he resigned over this. The important thing to remember is that while he is Commissioner of the NFL, he really is just representing the best interests of the owners. He is supposed to look out for the best interests of the game, but anybody who thinks he isn't more than a glorified puppet of the owners is a bit mistaken.

I say that because if the NFL is making money and not losing sponsors, they probably are not going to do anything with Goodell. The only way Goodell gets removed from power over this situation is if sponsors and TV networks start levying threats at the league. It so frequently comes back to money, and as cynical as it might seem, that's how I see this playing out. The only way Goodell is ousted from power is if the owners feel a threat to their bank accounts.