Ravens executives were aware of the severity of Ray Rice’s altercation with his then-fiancee in an Atlantic City casino elevator but still conducted a months-long campaign for leniency, a report said Friday.
Citing numerous anonymous sources, ESPN reported that Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, president Dick Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome supported the former Pro Bowl running back until the emergence of a graphic video that showed Rice strike Janay Palmer in a Revel Hotel Casino elevator on Feb. 15.
ESPN also reported that when Rice met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in June, Rice told the commissioner that he struck and knocked out his wife. Goodell has since said Rice was “ambiguous” about what happened inside the elevator.
The league made only a “token effort” to obtain the elevator video, according to ESPN. The video was posted by celebrity gossip website TMZ on Sept. 8.
After the Ravens released Rice and the NFL imposed an indefinite suspension on the running back, Bisciotti sent a text message to Rice telling him that he would have a job with the Ravens once his playing days were over.
In a statement, the Ravens refuted the ESPN report.
“The … article contains numerous errors, inaccuracies, false assumptions, and perhaps misunderstandings,” the statement said. “The Ravens will address all of these next week in Baltimore after our trip to Cleveland for Sunday’s game against the Browns.”