So... the NFL lied. It WAS a sting operation.

Grigson says he alerted the league IN THE WEEK BEFORE THE GAME that the Pats might be using underinflated footballs.... and it seems the NFL wanted to catch us in the act instead of notifying us that these concerns were raised.

In other words, potentially allowing illegal footballs to be used in a game with the Super Bowl berth on the line just so the NFL can play gotcha instead of ensuring whatever they were hee hawing about integrity of the game.

I'm sorry but it's time. Goodell needs to go.

Goodell isn't going anywhere. Yes the Rice situation and most likely this non-story about PSI are embarrassing but he netted the owners a ton of cash with the NBC deal and getting the NFLN on nearly all tv providers. Money talks and until he costs the owners $$$ or he's caught diddling a child, he'll stay in place.

patman12 said:

Goodell isn't going anywhere. Yes the Rice situation and most likely this non-story about PSI are embarrassing but he netted the owners a ton of cash with the NBC deal and getting the NFLN on nearly all tv providers. Money talks and until he costs the owners $$$ or he's caught diddling a child, he'll stay in place.

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Not so sure about that. Kraft is the Chairman of the Broadcast Committee so I think its reasonable to assume that he was more responsible than Goodell for negotiating these deals.

Plus Kraft has demonstrated already (business and union) his negotiating skills.

patman12 said:

Goodell isn't going anywhere. Yes the Rice situation and most likely this non-story about PSI are embarrassing but he netted the owners a ton of cash with the NBC deal and getting the NFLN on nearly all tv providers. Money talks and until he costs the owners $$$ or he's caught diddling a child, he'll stay in place.

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/He/ didn't net the owners anything. I'm really tired of this argument. The networks line up to give the NFL their money. There are literally thousands of people that could have done as well as Goodell in the money making department.

rochrist said:

/He/ didn't net the owners anything. I'm really tired of this argument. The networks line up to give the NFL their money. There are literally thousands of people that could have done as well as Goodell in the money making department.

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The issue of over-compensation for CEOs has now spread to sports, universities, charities and other host organisms.

The Brandon Five said:

The issue of over-compensation for CEOs has now spread to sports, universities, charities and other host organisms.

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??I'm not sure what that means. Spell it out for me.

OhExaulted1 said:

??I'm not sure what that means. Spell it out for me.

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I am saying that executive over-comp is like a disease that has spread from the Fortune 500 to other orgs.

The Brandon Five said:

The issue of over-compensation for CEOs has now spread to sports, universities, charities and other host organisms.

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The funny thing is that the justification for compensating the hell out of CEOs is that they're both extremely valuable and extremely rare, so if you don't pay them what you're paying them someone else will.

Which leads to the question: if the NFL let Goodell go tomorrow, what would his market value be? Who, exactly, would be willing to pay him even a tenth of what he makes now? Would he be trusted to even run a Burger King at this point?

The Brandon Five said:

I am saying that executive over-comp is like a disease that has spread from the Fortune 500 to other orgs.

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OK, I get it. Wasn't sure if you were referring to something like the 9 mothers of Antonio Cromarties 14 children or something to that effect.

So, if it was a sting (and I think it was) then the league was theoreticallly willing to allow one of its Conference Championship Games to be played with defective equipment in order to "bag" arguably its premier franchise. Dale Arnold was correct today when he renamed all of this "Hatergate."

Jackson 2 said:

So, if it was a sting (and I think it was) then the league was theoreticallly willing to allow one of its Conference Championship Games to be played with defective equipment in order to "bag" arguably its premier franchise. Dale Arnold was correct today when he renamed all of this "Hatergate."

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There's a lot of "mass psychology" on full display and it's not terribly flattering to our species.

That the 4th estate is eating itself in this process is the worst of it since it means that this is now a battle of narratives, not facts.

Bozo the clown could be commissioner and the NFL would still get record TV deals, make billions off fantasy football jackazzes, and break viewership records. We live in a country starved for football and f#cking goodell has nothing to do with it...

Chalk this one up to organized ignorance, just like the Ray Rice video getting lost in the paperwork. It takes strong leadership to get everyone on the same page, and Goodell's front office lacks that level of leadership.

rochrist said:

/He/ didn't net the owners anything. I'm really tired of this argument. The networks line up to give the NFL their money. There are literally thousands of people that could have done as well as Goodell in the money making department.

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He's a crap commissioner but it looks like the majority of owners are good with him in that position. As long as he has their backing, he's not going anywhere. Kraft is really influential but I'm not sure if he could swing the votes it would take to oust Goodell.

Here's my take. I think it was a sting operation but I doubt they expected it to get this big until Irsay told Kravitz about it. Maybe the NFL was just checking in on this claim by Grigson and boom it hits the press and spreads like wild fire. I think it was a sting operation but I dont think they expected it to turn into what it's turned into.

If anything the NFL probably hates the Colts more than the Pats right now. Kensil's ass is exposed. Goodell looks like a moron again. An employee got caught stealing footballs and makes the NFL look stupid. They basically walked into a gunfight with a knife.

Also, teams blackballed Mangini after spygate. Can you imagine how many others will reaction to Grigson and by extension Pagano after this.

patman12 said:

He's a crap commissioner but it looks like the majority of owners are good with him in that position. As long as he has their backing, he's not going anywhere. Kraft is really influential but I'm not sure if he could swing the votes it would take to oust Goodell.

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http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2014/12/08/Opinion/From-The-Executive-Editor.aspx

The No. 3 ranking of Robert Kraft is sure to surprise many, but if significant changes are to occur at the NFL, none of them will be done without Kraft’s oversight and blessing. He firmly remains in Goodell’s corner, and as long as that’s the case, the current commissioner will have the support he needs to execute his vision for the future.

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BradyFTW! said:

The funny thing is that the justification for compensating the hell out of CEOs is that they're both extremely valuable and extremely rare, so if you don't pay them what you're paying them someone else will.

Which leads to the question: if the NFL let Goodell go tomorrow, what would his market value be? Who, exactly, would be willing to pay him even a tenth of what he makes now? Would he be trusted to even run a Burger King at this point?

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Last month, Eric Winston, the president of the player's association, made a comment about Goodell along the lines of "Even the worst bartender at Spring Break cleans up." This is true, but should the owners be happy with that? Some of these owners have built successful businesses. They might eventually realize that, with a better bartender, they can make even more money.

Wow! I wasn't really on board with the whole "sting" theory, but after reading the espn article, I'm totally floored and disgusted with the new can of worms this opens. It really opens the door for a Colts investigation to 1. Their own footballs & 2. Did they tamper with the Pats intercepted Football. This is just getting crazy!

Does anyone know or heard of the basis on which Grigson notified the league of their concerns about the footballs before the game.
Given that the league stated that the results and facts will be made public at the conclusion of the Wells investigation, I would expect to find out who Grigson notified, on what basis and what the NFL official who was notified did with this information (Blandino stated that he was not aware of any pre-game concerns).

The irony for me at least is the intent of the initial leak to Kravitz was to vilify the Patriots and yet every conflicting report now points the spotlight on the league office.

It also goes to show you how powerful these "sourced reports" are and how clearly it shows the pre-bias of the "reporters" who break these reports and/or the sources themselves for which we will never know.