CLUB FINES FOR PLAYER ARRESTS TO BEGIN JUNE 1
Posted by Michael David Smith on May 27, 2008, 1:10 p.m.
The NFL’s new policy of fining teams if their players are suspended for violating the league’s personal conduct policy will begin with violations that take place on and after June 1.

“The policy on club fines is being applied going forward [prospectively], not retroactively,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello wrote in a Tuesday e-mail to Alex Marvez of Fox Sports. “The plan is that the club to be fined will be the club to which the player belonged at the time of the arrest or violation. But it only applies to arrests or violations occurring after June 1.”

That means every team currently has a clean slate, whether they’re at the top of the Turd Watch standings or whether they have a perfect score of zero. Starting with the first arrest in June, teams can start getting fined.

In the past, NFL players were disciplined for off-field problems, but teams weren’t held responsible for what their players did. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said the fines for clubs are another way of demonstrating that the league takes the conduct of its employees seriously.