This is the popular (Jerry Thornton) diatribe which has zero basis in reality.
First, it was Raymond Berry who benched, and then cut, Doug Flutie, destroying any chance of our competitiveness for those years.
The Sullivans' financial collapse was years in the making prior. Kiam missed the deadline on all his inherited debts, which Orthwein paid off when he bought the team. The league did not force it; it merely stated that doing so would enhance Orthwein's chances of having a franchise in his hometown of St. Louis. And if Orthwein didn't deal with the debt, no one else would.
What the league, and the media did do is what they have always done since the 1970 merger: denigrate and dump on the Patriots. Orthwein, and everybody else, were correct that the Patriots franchise was indeed ridiculed -- by the league, and by the media - they left that part out.
Which brings us to the nonsensical fantasy that Zeke Mowatt - a Super Bowl winner whom Parcells later vouched for - spontaneously sexually harassed a female reporter in the locker room.
The league investigation led by Philip Heymann [think Ted Wells] concluded that the entire incident could have been avoided, had it been handled properly. So, in other words, there was in fact a problem, and Lisa Olson was not some random female picked out from a haystack for an attack. Olson was, in fact, not like the hundreds of other females in and around the Patriots' locker room for decades prior, including Gayle (Granik) Gardner in 1976.
One does not have to be a scantily clad professional athlete in a locker room, to be extremely and justifiably bothered, irritated, and even outraged when being ogled. Now, the perpetrator's behavior is not necessarily deliberate or malicious or even lecherous, and one may not even be conscious of it. But it's there and it's real, and after management failed to deal with it (her) some players took matters into their own hands-literally, apparently. Definitely not something to be proud of...but when Olson decided to play the innocent, abused, "mind-raped" victim, the press and the league ran with it like, well, like "SpyGate" and "DeflateGate". Never once has Olson taken any responsibility or been held accountable, nor has anyone explained how she managed to see all the "abusive behavior being directed at her" which she described in detail (behind her back?) while simultaneously doing her job, that is, writing.
Kraft kept the lease, but not because of league ridicule. Orthwein hired Parcells, after Orthwein (alone) commissioned the league to do the makeover. Kraft decided to buy the team on January 2, 1994 after he and his sons attended the Patriots' 33-27 overtime win-their fourth straight to finish the season, which eliminated the Dolphins from the playoffs. Parcells' decision to go to the Jets - which he made in the fall - and his absence on the team plane enabled Kraft and Belichick to sit together and get to know each other on the flight home from SBXXXI.
