List of high-profile sporting bans and fines

[May 13, 2015]  (Reuters) - The NFL suspended New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady without pay for the first four games of the 16-game season, fined the franchise $1 million and took away two draft picks on Monday for their role in Deflategate.

While harsh, the punishment is not the most severe in the world of sport for a player or franchise. Here is a list of some of the more notable punishments doled out in sport:

- Major League Baseball's Alex Rodriguez was suspended for the entire 162 games of the 2014 season for his role in a doping a scandal that also cost the New York Yankees slugger about $22 million in lost salary.

- The NFL's New Orleans Saints were fined $500,000 and lost two second-round draft picks while head coach Sean Payton was suspended the entire 2012 season and general manager Mickey Loomis for eight games over a bounty program that rewarded players for deliberately injuring opposing players.

- The National Basketball Association suspended Ron Artest (who later changed his name to Metta World Peace) 86 games for sparking a brawl between players and fans during a game between his former Indiana Pacers team and the Detroit Pistons in 2004. The ban cost Artest nearly $5 million in lost salary.

- Uruguay striker Luis Suarez was hit with the longest ban imposed at a World Cup when he was suspended from all football-related activity for four months and fined $111,000 after biting an Italian opponent during the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

- Tennis player Mariano Puerta was suspended eight years (later reduced to two year) in 2005 after a second failed doping test.

- Lance Armstrong, the seven-times winner of the Tour de France, was stripped of his titles and banned from the sport of cycling for life for using performance-enhancing drugs.

- Formula One team McLaren Mercedes were fined $100 million and stripped of their points in the constructors' championship by the International Automobile Federation in 2007 as a result of Ferrari technical information being in their possession.

- Cricketers Mohammad Azharuddin of India and Hansie Cronje of South Africa were banned for life after being implicated in a match-fixing scandal in 2000.

(This story corrects Azharuddin's nationality in final paragraph)

(Compiled by Steve Keating in Toronto; Editing by Frank Pingue)

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