A US judge’s decision to strike down New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game “Deflategate” suspension means the superstar can play in the NFL’s season opener on Thursday.
The ruling by US District Judge Richard Berman not only paves the way for Brady to take the field against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it is also a public relations embarrassment for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and calls into question his role as the league’s ultimate authority.
“Brady’s four-game suspension is vacated, effective immediately,” Berman ruled after failing in his effort to induce the warring sides to reach a settlement.
However, the decision is not a definitive end to a saga that has shadowed the NFL since January, when accusations surfaced that the Patriots used balls inflated below the league minimum in the first half of the American Conference championship victory over Indianapolis.
Goodell said the league would appeal “in order to uphold the collectively bargained responsibility to protect the integrity of the game,” but Berman concluded that Goodell overstepped his bounds in the punishment meted out to Brady, which the judge said was based on “several significant legal deficiencies.”
Berman questioned the independence of investigators who found Brady was probably “generally aware” that Patriots employees had purposely deflated the balls — making them easier to grip, grab and throw — and found him uncooperative over questions about the controversial game.
“With respect to ‘general awareness’ of others’ misconduct... Brady had no notice that such conduct was prohibited or any reasonable certainty of potential discipline stemming from such conduct,” Berman wrote, at one point accusing Goodell of dispensing “his own brand of industrial justice.”
Berman found that Goodell’s argument that tampering with the balls merited punishment similar to that for doping was flawed. He said the lack of equal access to investigative files for Brady and the refusal to make NFL lawyer and investigator Jeff Pash available as a witness at his appeal made the process “fundamentally unfair” to the player.
It was another slap in the face for Goodell, who has seen a string of disciplinary decisions overturned in courts or arbitration.
Among them, all player suspensions in the 2012 pay-for-injury “Bountygate” scandal involving the New Orleans Saints were vacated and former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice’s year-long suspension for domestic violence was overturned.
While the league is to appeal, it will apparently not seek to keep Brady — one of the biggest names in the NFL — off the field.
“While the legal phase of this process continues, we look forward to focusing on football and the opening of the regular season,” Goodell said.
Defending Super Bowl champions the Patriots played their final pre-season game on Thursday night against the New York Giants, but Brady was not with his team on the field. Chris Boswell kicked four field goals as the Giants finished off the Patriots 12-9.
The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) welcomed Thursday’s ruling, saying that the rights of all players under the collective bargaining agreement had been affirmed.
“While the CBA grants the person who occupies the position of commissioner the ability to judiciously and fairly exercise the designated power of that position, the union did not agree to attempts to unfairly, illegally exercise that power,” NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said, lashing out at Goodell. “We are happy for the victory of the rule of law for our players and our fans.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later