The Baltimore Ravens defended their handling of the domestic violence case against running back Ray Rice with a press conference Monday. Owner Steve Bisciotti denied reports that he pressed the National Football League to be lenient with Rice.
Rice's case is one of a series of scandals plaguing the NFL that have prompted widespread criticism.
Among those most critical are women. The NFL says they make up 45 percent of its fan base, and they're a key part of its business strategy.
Judging by a recent NBC poll, the scandals are not keeping most fans from the game: Nearly 90 percent said the recent controversy hasn't changed how much pro football they watch.
They've reacted strongly to the scandals, though not with one voice.
At a Washington, D.C., sports bar, Atlanta native Tara Bell says she's still cheering her beloved Falcons.
"I grew up watching the games," she says. "I've always been a diehard fan"
Bell agrees the players should be disciplined. But, she adds, "I kind of look at it as, OK, they are human; they make a mistake, but I will support my team. Even if it was there was somebody on the Falcons (accused of abuse) I would probably still support them. I do believe that you're innocent until proven guilty."
Others have been quicker to judge, at least when it comes to the league itself. Take last week's persistent allegations that the NFL covered up a video of Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice knocking his wife out cold in an elevator.
Comedian Megan MacKay scored a YouTube hit with this searingly sarcastic video she calls a Ray Rice Inspired Makeup Tutorial.
"So the first step, as always, is foundation, and I'm using a new shade that I just bought called the NFL," she begins. "I really like this color because it'll cover up anything just to save face."
For some women, that kind of cynicism has been building for years.
Erin Ryan, news editor at Jezebel, a pop culture web site for women, was a life-long football fan. But in 2010, a student accused a football player at Notre Dame, where Ryan went to school, of sexual assault. After the player's friend sent text messages warning her not to "mess" with Notre Dame football, the woman killed herself.
Ryan decided to boycott Notre Dame games. Then she started noticing the ever-growing list of assault allegations against NFL players.
The recent scandals, she says, "just reaffirmed everything that this gnawing sensation had told me, this idea that the league doesn't really care about its fans. It doesn't care about its players. It just cares about making money."
Ryan can't remember the last regular season NFL game she saw. She recently wrote a column for Jezebel with the headline, "If You Care About Women and Still Support the NFL, You Are a Hypocrite."
For some African-Americans though, condemning the league is not easy.
"We don't want to demonize these men, whether they're black or white, because they have issues themselves," says Rev. Marcia Dyson, a victim of domestic violence and part of the Black Women's Roundtable. "Let us help our sons."
The group said it was "outraged" that all four domestic violence experts the NFL called on to help develop new anti-domestic abuse policies are white, even though two-thirds of the leagues players are black.
Dyson says that two senior NFL executives, Ana Isaacson and Troy Vincent, have now agreed to meet with the Roundtable. She wants them to understand that many young players come from broken homes and violent neighborhoods.
"But you come with a lot of issues that you have not been able to address, with the immediate gratification and the power that your league now gives you as a star," Dyson says.
Instead of banning players, Dyson wants the league to help them. Her empathy extends to Commissioner Roger Goodell, who could personify a real transformation, she says.
"I'd rather see him stay and become a better person because of this, honestly," she says.
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