(Reuters) - Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy had his 10-game domestic abuse-related suspension reduced to four games, the National Football League announced on Friday.
Arbitrator Harold Henderson said in a statement he believed NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell "acted within his authority and properly exercised his discretion" in finding that Hardy violated the league's Personal Conduct Policy.
But, he said, a 10-game suspension "is simply too much ... when the 'baseline' for discipline in domestic violence or sexual assault cases was announced (by the NFL last year) as a six-game suspension."
Hardy, a five-year NFL veteran, was found guilty by a district court judge in July 2014 of assaulting his former girlfriend but, under North Carolina law, appealed the verdict and was then allowed to have a jury trial.