—St. Cloud Times

There are two elements of good in the Minnesota Vikings putting Adrian Peterson on suspension at least until his court case involving child abuse charges is resolved.

First, it’s the right decision.

Second — and more importantly — it should set the new NFL standard for off-field violence.

When players, employees and even owners face felony-level charges or credible accusations of any violence against women, children and family members, the accused should be suspended until those charges are resolved.

Remember, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell the past few weeks vowed to crack down on players’ off-the-field violence, including an immediate six-game suspension regardless of the legal process.

Then Peterson’s case emerged, and the NFL did nothing different.

Right move

Fortunately, the Vikings finally did the right thing Wednesday when the team suspended Peterson pending the outcome of charges he abused his 4-year-old son when he “whooped” him for bad behavior.

The Vikings’ decision to reactivate him Monday, citing their desire to let the court process determine his punishment, rightly drew intense national criticism.

Sadly, though, it took the language of money to wake up the Vikings and — hopefully — the NFL. Radisson Hotels’ announcement to suspend its Vikings sponsorship became the first of several multimillion- and even billion-dollar corporate sponsors that said “enough.”

Sure, dollar signs speak louder than protest signs to the NFL, but at least it forced the Vikings to make the right move.

Not the courts

Those sponsors now should demand the handling of Peterson’s case become leaguewide policy.

“Innocent until proven guilty” is the standard in the justice system, not for businesses and other organizations — especially for people in highly visible and leadership roles. Like it or not, those include professional athletes, most of whom sign contracts that bind them to certain behavior standards 24/7.

For the sake of protecting such an organization’s future, when a member violates terms of a contract, steps must be taken quickly, or one person’s actions can take down an entire organization.

Hopefully, Peterson’s case finally made the NFL realize that.