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 The NFL also said the Patriots will forfeit their first-round
selection in the 2016 draft and a fourth-round pick in 2017 for
using under-inflated footballs in last season's AFC Championship
game.
Brady's agent and Patriots owner Robert Kraft both sharply
criticized the punishment, prolonging a turbulent season for the
most-profitable U.S. sports league, which has already had to deal
with scandals involving domestic violence and child abuse.
"The discipline is ridiculous and has no legitimate basis," said
Brady's agent Don Yee, adding that the quarterback will appeal the
suspension.
Ted Wells, an attorney hired by the NFL to investigate the
allegations, said in a 243-page report that it was "more probable
than not" that Patriots personnel "were involved in a deliberate
effort" to circumvent rules by using deflated footballs in the
team's 45-7 win over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC championship
game.
An underinflated football would likely give Brady a better grip and
allow him to throw longer and with more accuracy, especially in the
chilly and wet conditions the Colts and Patriots played in to
determine who would go to the Super Bowl.
The $1 million fine ties the largest ever for a team in the NFL,
equaling the amount the league ordered San Francisco 49ers owner
Edward Debartolo, Jr. to pay in 1999 after he pleaded guilty to a
felony for his role in a Louisiana gambling scandal.
In a statement, Kraft, considered one of the league's most-powerful
owners and an ally of Commissioner Roger Goodell, expressed his
"disappointment in how this one-sided investigation was handled" and
said Brady, who has led the Patriots to four championships, "has our
unconditional support."
"Despite our conviction that there was no tampering with footballs,
it was our intention to accept any discipline levied by the league,"
Kraft said in a statement.
"Today’s punishment, however, far exceeded any reasonable
expectation. It was based completely on circumstantial rather than
hard or conclusive evidence."
Brady has a guaranteed base salary of $8 million for the 16-game
2015 NFL season. If the four-game suspension with no pay is upheld,
Brady will miss games against Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Jacksonville and
Dallas. Ironically, his first game back on Oct. 18 would be against
the Colts.
INTEGRITY
Vincent, the NFL's vice president of football operations who handed
down the sanctions, said he was influenced by the Patriots' 2007
Spygate scandal and the lack of cooperation by Brady and the
Patriots.
"We relied on the critical importance of protecting the integrity of
the game and the thoroughness and independence of the Wells report,"
Goodell said in a statement.
While the fine is large by NFL standards, it won't dent the bottom
line of a team that was valued by Forbes at $2.6 billion in 2014.
"The $1 million is in many respects a slap on the wrist, that's
lunch money during the football season," said Daniel Durbin,
director of the Institute of Sports, Media and Society at the
University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication
and Journalism.
"The larger issue is taking away their quarterback for four games,
that has some impact on revenue because one of their star players is
gone."
Although there was no smoking gun, the Wells report, which took
nearly four months to complete, found Brady and two members of the
Patriots' equipment staff were all likely culpable.
"The footballs were intentionally deflated in an effort to provide a
competitive advantage to Tom Brady after having been certified by
the game officials as being in compliance with the playing rules,"
Vincent said in a letter to the Patriots concerning the punishment.
[to top of second column] |
The team told Goodell last week that Patriots employees John
Jastremski and James McNally, who were linked to the scandal, have
been indefinitely suspended without pay by the club, the NFL said.
The punishment was a rare loss for Brady, who has played 15 years in
the NFL after coming out of the University of Michigan as an
unheralded sixth-round draft choice. He has won four Super Bowls in
six tries with the Patriots, and was chosen the most valuable player
in three of the victories. He has denied playing any role in
deflating the footballs.
QUICK REACTION
Reaction to the sanctions was quick -- and mixed.
"They had no definitive proof against Tom Brady or #patriots,"
tweeted real estate mogul Donald Trump. "If Hillary doesn't have to
produce Emails, why should Tom? Very unfair!"
Arizona Cardinals linebacker Sean Weatherspoon tweeted: "I think the
suspension is warranted, they came down hard on the organization
though. #Deflategate"
Brady, 37, who is married to Brazilian fashion model Gisele
Bündchen, refused to turn over his cell phone and other personal
information for the investigation, Wells said in the report.
"I think it's absolutely right and proper if he's been complicit in
some kind of wrongdoing," said Jamie Johnson, 34, a graduate student
from London at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government
outside Boston.
"It doesn't matter who he is, what kind of player he is, or what
he's accomplished."
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who was not implicated in the
deflated football scandal, was fined $500,000 in 2007 for illegally
videotaping defensive signals from New York Jets coaches in what was
dubbed "Spygate." The Patriots were also fined $250,000 and
forfeited a first-round draft pick.
The "Deflategate" issue has been another headache for Goodell, who
came under fire last year for his lenient stance on domestic abuse,
which caused him to re-vamp the league's personal conduct policy and
strengthen the penalties against players who commit such crimes.
While Goodell was being heavily criticized for his light punishments
on domestic violence, Kraft was his staunchest defender, leading
many to speculate league would go easy on a star player who is
considered one of the greatest of his generation.
"It's a good thing the @nfl suspended Tom Brady now everyone knows
that NOBODY is above the system #NFL #FairGame," tweeted Shawne
Merriman, a retired former three-time Pro Bowl linebacker.
(Reporting by Paul Thomasch and Steve Ginsburg; Editing by Barbara
Goldberg, Mary Milliken and Alan Crosby)
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reserved.]
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