NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell delivers bounty appeals decision - NFL News
The New Orleans Saints bounty scandal is now all set to move up to the United States Federal Courts as National Football League (NFL) commissioner, Roger Goodell, announced his decision regarding the appeals filed by suspended players.
All four players’ suspensions were upheld by Goodell in a ruling delivered on Tuesday. The commissioner though has kept the possibility of the players meeting him open to provide their side of the story.
Goodell wrote in his appeal rulings delivered to all four players:
"Although you claimed to have been 'wrongfully accused with insufficient evidence,' your lawyers elected not to ask a single question of the principal investigators, both of whom were present at the hearing.”
He also added that the players had failed to provide a single shred of evidence to show their innocence during the hearing and wrote that their lawyers instead chose to raise objections to the procedures and jurisdiction of the appeals.
The decision though will not end the bounty scandal as the players had waited for this moment to move federal courts over the matter.
New Orleans Saints linebacker, Jonathan Vilma, already has filed two lawsuits in courts against the NFL and Goodell.
One seeks damages for defamation of the player’s reputation due to Goodell’s statements to the media while the other asks the court to deliver a stay order against his season long suspension.
The three other players which include Saints defensive end, Will Smith, and former Saints players Anthony Hargrove and Scott Fujita are also planning to file injunctions for their own stay orders.
Release of Goodell’s ruling led the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) to also release their statement which questioned the integrity of the appeals process.
"The commissioner took actions during this process that rendered it impossible for him to be an impartial arbitrator."
New Orleans Saints were found to be running an illegal bounty programme this offseason as the league finally got its hands on substantial evidence which implicated both New Orleans coaches and players of putting bounties on opposition players.
The commissioner had earlier suspended Saints head coach, Sean Payton, general manager, Mickey Loomis and assistant coach, Joe Vitt for a year, eight games and six games respectively for hiding the bounty programme's existence from league investigators.
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