Doesn’t make sense.
The Saints were still getting 5 plus national games during Payton’s run.
The ratings were still high.
Why would the League do everything to cripple a team they were putting on national TV so much at the time?
We watched Payton go from never getting calls and replays go his way with the Saints to getting magical calls and obvious replays(that should have failed) go his way with the Broncos. You can continue to "not believe" Payton. But we've seen it live.