Patriots’ full response to latest ESPN report

[ANGR89]

I know it's been mentioned on here plenty of times...but seriously can the patriots or more importantly Brady take them to court for defamation?
No matter what is said from here on out it don't seem to matter, they have already hurt his reputation. I literally just heard on the radio that when Brady filed in MN they threw it out within 24 hours because they didn't want a cheater in their courthouse!!
Seriously how are they allowed to keep saying this crap at some point I would think enough is enough and Brady would have a good case, but I don't know how all that works.

 

[RecoveringCowboy]

In your country you don't call it Pravda.

You call it ESPN.

 

[raduray]

I don't doubt Goodell was worried about a Senate hearing. Not for the sake of the Patriots but can you imagine what they might uncover about the NFL? At that time, the NFL still held it's tax-exempt status. If the feds had decided to revoke it, they might have made them pay back taxes and I can imagine that would have been quite a bill. As they've decided to give up the tax-exempt status, they start paying this year.

The tax-exempt status is a red herring. The NFL itself is just the organizing body and has little to no income. The teams themselves are the revenue/profit generators and they are not tax exempt.

 

[patfanken]

As a basic statement what the Patriots office presented was very good. But it can't be the last statement.
Here's what needs to added.

"The Patriots organization does not believe its a coincidence that ESPN suddenly came up with a program highlighting unsubstantiated inaccurate, and libelous allegations within days of Judge Berman's scathing rebuke of the League office policies and procedures. Quite frankly we are tired of this constant barrage of lies, misinformation and libel that has been spewed against our organization. As the season is about to begin we are going to concentrate our full effort in defending our title, so until it ends we will say nothing further.

However understand THIS. There will be a time, and it will happen soon, where those who have slandered and libeled this proud franchise, WILL be called to defend their statements in a court of law/ And be on call,. that we will watching very carefully to make sure the obvious bias that the league administration holds against the Patriots does NOT affect the product on the field or puts the Patriots at an unfair competitive advantage"

This statement will do 3 things. It will put on notice that the Pats are aware the league office is behind the ESPN report in order to change the focus of the recent ruling from the NFL administration back to the Pats. Second make them aware that there is a real possibility that slanderous misinformation will no longer be tollerated, and if they want to continue it, there WILL be consequences. Thirdly by putting it out there that the Pats suspect that the league will try and take it out on them by putting the Pats in unfair competitve advantage it will make sure that the rest of the world will be taking a close look to see if the Pats are getting screwed by the refs or other factors of the league's bias, and make it less likely that it will happen.

 

[woolster22]

Like that punt that didn't hit the guys leg last week followed by 4 bs penalties and a gifted 3 points?

 

[JJC]

I read that statement, but what I heard in my head was this:

 

[Hoodie]

The tax-exempt status is a red herring. The NFL itself is just the organizing body and has little to no income. The teams themselves are the revenue/profit generators and they are not tax exempt.

According to Bloomberg:

“Every dollar of income generated through television rights fees, licensing agreements, sponsorships, ticket sales, and other means is earned by the 32 clubs and is taxable there ,” Goodell wrote. “This will remain the case even when the league office and Management Council file returns as taxable entities, and the change in filing status will make no material difference to our business.”
​

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/a...s-tax-exempt-status-goodell-tells-team-owners

Maybe it's not the reason but it is quite a bit of $.

 

[SVN]

I know defamation suit is thrown lightly around here but why cant they file a suit even if they dont win it? At least show some seriousness about this crap. I doubt it will even get there .

 

[VectorPrime]

Tomorrow I better be waking up to a full scale response by the Patriots about all this. I can understand that they were probably caught blind sided, again, by the NFL today so they had to slap together that little statement. But there better be a lot more coming tomorrow.

 

[NJPatsfan26]

I know defamation suit is thrown lightly around here but why cant they file a suit even if they dont win it? At least show some seriousness about this crap. I doubt it will even get there .

thats not for the better of the league so Kraft will never do it

 

[SVN]

thats not for the better of the league so Kraft will never do it

Defamation suit vs ESPN has nothing to with the league.

 

[NJPatsfan26]

Defamation suit vs ESPN has nothing to with the league.

Excellent point

Would be amazing if the pats some how put ESPN out of business with a multi billion dollar law suite.

 

[SVN]

Excellent point

Would be amazing if the pats some how put ESPN out of business with a multi billion dollar law suite.

I dont know much about this but Iam sure it will get settled or ESPN will retract if the pats do it. But pats shouldnt care .They should go out on offense.

 

[Dr Pain]

Its Jastre

I know defamation suit is thrown lightly around here but why cant they file a suit even if they dont win it? At least show some seriousness about this crap. I doubt it will even get there .

It is Jastremski and McNally who have the best cases to be tried in federal court right here in Massachusetts

 

[Gator Mike]

Its Jastre

It is Jastremski and McNally who have the best cases to be tried in federal court right here in Massachusetts

This.

Jastremski and McNally have been exceptionally quiet. In Jastremski's case, it could be because he wants his job back. But McNally? I have to assume it's under orders of his attorney. That law suit will be EPIC.

 

[VectorPrime]

Excellent point

Would be amazing if the pats some how put ESPN out of business with a multi billion dollar law suite.

ESPN is owned by ABC which is owned by Disney which has more money than God. They aren't going out of business.

 

[NJPatsfan26]

ESPN is owned by ABC which is owned by Disney which has more money than God. They aren't going out of business.

that damn mouse.....

 

[thenepatsrule]

ESPN is owned by ABC which is owned by Disney which has more money than God. They aren't going out of business.

While I agree on the money part, I must say if ESPN starts incurring losses,how long before the execs at Disney take a hard look at how ESPN is being run?. ESPN has become the TMZ of sports media, They often run stories which are baseless and then if proved wrong dont retract them.
ESPN is the biggest race card player there is, if you need proof just watch FIRST TAKE where everything is turned into a racial issue by SAS and then Skip Bayless starts his statment by saying things like "You know i treat you like a brother ..." etc .
I hope all the fans in the NE region cancel their cable/satellite connection and when asked for a reason by the customer service agent I hope they say"No NFL for me till FRAUDger is fired"

 

[venecol]

Not sure what filing more lawsuits is going to gain. Patriots are not whiners. Pats only care about one thing: winning. Who cares about EspitN and their false reporting, it doesn't affect the outcome of the games. I want them to prove it on the field. Let's go kick some ass.

 

[rookBoston]

Pats response should be this:

It may also be that Bill Belichick is the monster under your bed. He might have been the guy that gave your overweight defensive tackle all those corn dogs. He might be why it rained on game day, and why your wife left you. He might have bribed air traffic control to delay your flight, and he might have put laxative into your quarterback's Gatorade.

Unnamed league officials tell us that they once had evidence to prove all of these allegations, but will testify that Commissioner Goddell destroyed them. Nevertheless since the vast majority of teams in the NFL are certain these things are all certainly true, let the crucifiction begin!