The Radisson hotel chain suspended a sponsorship deal with the Minnesota Vikings as a Houston television station reported that running back Adrian Peterson, already charged with hitting his 4-year-old son with a tree branch, was accused in 2013 of hitting another son.
Peterson’s attorney said the 2013 allegation, involving another 4-year-old with a different mother, was “simply not true.”
Both developments came hours after the NFL team said Peterson, 29, who was held out of this past weekend’s game, will participate in practices and meetings this week and play in Minnesota’s game Sept. 21 at New Orleans.
“Radisson takes this matter very seriously, particularly in light of our long-standing commitment to the protection of children,” spokesman Ben Gardeen said Monday night in an email message, adding that he could not provide details of the sponsorship deal.
“We are closely following the situation and effective immediately, Radisson is suspending its limited sponsorship of the Minnesota Vikings while we evaluate the facts and circumstances.”
Peterson, who was released on $15,000 bond three days ago, could face as long as two years in prison if convicted of the charge involving the tree branch. Probation is also an option because he has no criminal record.
Peterson apologized Monday in a statement released by his agent for the “hurt I have brought to my child.” Peterson said he never wanted to be a distraction for the Vikings or in a position where the public is judging his parenting skills.
“I am, without a doubt, not a child abuser,” Peterson said in the statement. “I am someone that disciplined his child and did not intend to cause him any injury. No one can understand the hurt that I feel for my son and for the harm I caused him.”
KHOU-TV in Houston, citing text messages, said the mother of the 4-year-old in the 2013 allegation filed a report with Child Protective Services, but no charges were filed. Peterson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, said “there is no ongoing or new investigation” into the running back.
“This is not a new allegation, it’s one that is unsubstantiated and was shopped around to authorities in two states over a year ago and nothing came of it,” Hardin said in an emailed statement. “An adult witness adamantly insists Adrian did nothing inappropriate with his son.”
The Vikings issued a statement last night saying: “As part of the information we have gathered throughout this process, we were made aware of an allegation from 2013 in which authorities took no action against Adrian.”
Peterson, a two-time rushing champion and the NFL’s 2012 Most Valuable Player, was deactivated for a home game two days ago against the New England Patriots.
As Peterson was cleared by the Vikings to return to practice starting Tuesday, Greg Hardy was told he could rejoin the Carolina Panthers — who haven’t yet determined if the defensive end will play this weekend against the Pittsburgh Steelers as he appeals a 60-day suspended jail sentence he got in July for assaulting a former girlfriend.
Peterson and Hardy, 26, will return to the practice field as the NFL waits to learn whether Ray Rice will appeal an indefinite suspension handed down last week after a seven-month- old video was made public of him punching his then-fiancee in the head and knocking her unconscious. Rice has until the end of Tuesday to appeal, and ESPN reported that he plans to challenge the ban through the NFL Players Association.
San Francisco 49ers defensive end Ray McDonald, 30, who was arrested two weeks ago for felony domestic violence, played two days ago against the Chicago Bears.
The NFL, seeking to deal with the fallout of its handling of the assault by Rice, hired three women on Monday to shape its domestic-violence policies and programs. Lisa Friel, formerly the head of the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit in the New York County District Attorney’s Office; Jane Randel, co-founder of “NO MORE,” a national domestic violence awareness initiative, and Rita Smith, the former executive director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, were selected for the unit by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
“Our goal is to make a real difference on these and other issues,” Goodell said in a memo to teams and staff, which the league shared with reporters. “We know that we will be judged by our actions and their effectiveness.”
As a result of the Rice scandal, fan loyalty for the NFL has fallen from first to third among the major U.S. leagues behind Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association, according to the Brand Keys Sports Fan Loyalty Index. Last week, the YouGov BrandIndex, which measures daily brand consumer perception, found the NFL’s “buzz” score fell to minus-17 less than a week after having a yearlong high of 36.
It was the lowest since June 2012, when the league was embroiled in the scandal that New Orleans Saints players were paid bounties for injuring opponents and had enacted new rules prohibiting fans from bringing purses and bags into stadiums.
The NFL hasn’t taken action in the cases involving Peterson, who leads all active players with 86 rushing touchdowns, and Hardy, who recorded 33 quarterback sacks over his first four professional seasons.
Peterson, who has a base salary of $11.75 million this season, received his weekly pay of almost $700,000 while sitting out the 30-7 loss to New England.
He is the face of a franchise that’s building a $975 million stadium – about $500 million of which is coming from taxpayer funds – set to open for the 2016 season. Peterson’s image was on the team’s tickets for its home opener against the Patriots, a game in which the Vikings had just 54 yards rushing.
The NFL is facing a public relations crisis as groups such as the National Organization for Women and UltraViolet have called for Goodell’s ouster over his handling of the punishment of Rice.
Goodell originally gave Rice a two-game ban after an earlier video showed Rice hauling his unconscious fiancee out of an elevator at a New Jersey casino in February. The NFL handed down the indefinite ban after the release of the video showing the punch, footage which Goodell said no one at the league saw until last week.
Goodell then hired former FBI Director Robert Mueller to examine the league’s handling of the case after an unidentified law enforcement official told the Associated Press he sent a copy of the video from inside the elevator to the league in April.
About 205 million people tuned in to NFL games last year, representing 81 percent of all television homes in the U.S. The 2013 season averaged 17.6 million viewers a game, the second- most-watched season after 2010.
Those figures have helped the NFL generate almost $10 billion in annual revenue, from which Goodell received $35 million in salary last year, while boosting team values — the Buffalo Bills were sold last week for a record $1.4 billion, according to a person with direct knowledge of the transaction.
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