The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
A look at the biggest scandals in league history
There’s Spygate and Deflategate, bullying and bounties.
Those are just a few of the NFL’s biggest scandals in the past 15 years. And that’s not taking into account all the players suspended for allegations of domestic violence.
The most divisive of all — Colin Kaepernick’s protest for social justice — began in 2016 and continues.
But from the gambling suspensions of Paul Hornung and Alex Karras in the 1960s to Patriots players exposing themselves to a female reporter in 1990 to Kaepernick and other players kneeling during the national anthem, the NFL always seems to overcome whatever threatens its image or bottom line.
Football is the most popular sport in America and the league is a financial juggernaut with a current television deal worth $5.66 billion annually through 2022.
“I think some of these scandals definitely do tarnish the league’s image, but like with a lot of things, memories are short and there’s a big divide in the public mind between what the athlete does on the field and what the athlete allegedly did off the field,” former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue told The Associated Press.
“I think the two categories that for me are the most important are those that threaten the integrity of the game and those that involve owners, because they are supposed to be accountable and responsible for the integrity of the game and for the quality of the product, and that includes the image and the reputation and the credibility and the character of people who are presenting the game.”
League executive Troy Vincent has viewed it from many sides during three decades in the game. He played 15 seasons with Miami, Philadelphia, Buffalo and Washington. He was a five-time Pro Bowl cornerback and won the 2002 Walter Payton Man of the Year award. He served as president of the NFL Players Association for four years and has been the league’s executive vice president of football operations since 2014.
“Americans are very forgiving people,” Vincent told the AP. “The sport of football embodies the values that many Americans embrace themselves. When there is transparency, truth prevails. Football inspires the very things that we would like to see in ourselves as we experience life and pursue happiness and success. It exposes and deals in an intense microcosm with the very challenges and successes we face every day nationwide — on and off the field. In this truth, there is longevity, compelling interest, diversity, and hope.”
Richard Crepeau, professor emeritus of History at the University of Central Florida, studied the league for his book: “NFL Football: A History of America’s New National Pastime.” He concluded that most fans won’t abandon the game because of negative issues.
“The Teflon character of the NFL seems a mystery to many, but it probably is the simple fact that people love football, especially NFL football, and in the end they care most about the games on the field, not the action off the field,” Crepeau said.
“Most fans get worked up by some scandal or another if it directly affects their team, or if it occurs in the offseason when they’re not deeply immersed in the action of the competition. Once the games begin the talk about scandals generally subsides.”
He’s right, and the numbers — finances and ratings — prove it.
A look at some of the biggest scandals and controversies in NFL history:
Gambling suspensions
In 1963, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers and Alex Karras of the Detroit Lions indefinitely for betting on NFL games. Five other members of the Lions were fined $2,000 each for betting on the 1962 NFL championship game between Green Bay and the New York Giants. The Lions were fined $2,000 for ignoring reports of gambling by players. Rozelle made it clear there was no evidence any player bet against his own team.
Both players were reinstated a year later. Hornung, a running back and punter, won two more championships with Vince Lombardi’s Packers and was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986.
Karras played seven more seasons in the league and the linebacker became an All-Pro for a third time in 1965.
In 1983, Colts quarterback Art Schlichter became the first player since Hornung and Karras to be suspended for gambling.
Spygate
In September 2007, Commissioner Roger Goodell fined the New England Patriots $250,000 and coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 because a team videographer recorded New York Jets defensive coaches from an unauthorized location during a game a week earlier. The Patriots also had to forfeit a first-round pick.
Belichick said he made a mistake interpreting videotaping rules. The cheating suspicions tainted the team’s first three Super Bowl titles. But Goodell declared a year later after viewing evidence from New England’s former video assistant that there was no new information to issue further discipline.