goodell [could be] called before judiciary committe (spygate) {merged} (1 Viewer)

Congress is involved in the steroids issue b/c of this nations youth. They see men who have abused their bodies for huge amounts of fame and riches, and a clear message needs to be sent to dissuade middle and high school athletes from taking these same shortcuts. Also... these "interferences" by Congress into baseball only continue when the cheaters lie under oath in federal trials. Congress is forced to pursue prosecution in these instances if for no other reason than to protect the sanctity of the trial process that these men think thgey are "above".

But the Goodell thing seems like a reach... steroids are illegal, filming another teams signals is not.

Politicians love to sidestep the issue of "legislating morality". Isn't that what this, as well as the steroid case are doing?
 
Arlen Specter has also been threatening action if NFL network isn't made more available, because they now carry some games exclusively. This is just part of his attempt to intimidate Goodell.
 
Arlen Specter has also been threatening action if NFL network isn't made more available, because they now carry some games exclusively. This is just part of his attempt to intimidate Goodell.

So the tax dollars of people who may not want a product are being used to force a private business to lower its prices so that people who want the product but don't want to pay the going rate can have it?

Are we still pretending to be a democracy?
 
People posting other leagues are missing the point . You can't just put up a team and play NFL games is the point . They are a monopoly in that you can't start your own NFL team .
 
They are not a monopoly.

You can certainly start your own professional football team and a professional league is indeed starting up this Spring.

You can't use the term "National Football League" or "NFL" but you can call it something else.

It is the same as opening a hamburger restaurant. You just can't call it McDonald's or another name that is taken.

You can't, however, start your own professional baseball team. For some reason our Government decided that such a monopoly is good for our country and granted the MLBA an antitrust exemption which allows them to operate as a monopoly.
 
If any business in this country deserves a stiff knock up side their legal heads it is the NFL.

I hope they lose their antitrust exemption too. If it weren't for their antitrust exemption they'd be outlaws.
They are definitely an orginization that could be easliy tried for numerous violations of laws that most other companies would never be able to violate and get away with it like the NFL does because of the extremely generous antitrust exemption that they enjoy--- no relish..

Their level of market manipulation, price fixing, collusion and even insider dealing are second only to the medical/insurance/pharmaceutical industry or banking/securties brokering industries-- which I feel are tied for worst/first.

Go get 'em Arlin. I especially resent the hell out of them for their practice of sueing to stop gatherings of folks to have social functions that would be catered around NFL games being shown on large screens.
 
Last edited:
posted elsewhere but relevant:

Curt and The Rams were likely robbed... literally. If a woman can be prosecuted for trying share proprietary (sp?) company secrets at Coca-Cola then why can they get away with this? The NFL is not above the law-- they have an antitrust exemption. They don't have-- even at the commisioner level-- the right or authority to dismiss from justice wrong doings and crimes (stealing trade secrets is a crime; so is destruction of evidence) commited by members of their elite group of super-rich owners and/or their cohorts.

I hope Goodell takes a fall for this. He plays God up there, and while I like the cleaning up he's done and despise the antics of the select few players that thumb their collective noses at the law, he has engaged in incredibly reckless malfiesance (sp?) and has abused his office in destroying evidence. He then has the balls to think he's above the scrutiny of the Chairman of the Senate of the Judiciary committee with his complacent -- almost ubstructionist-- response to him.

Hey, just because you are a bunch of millionaire opportunists doesn't mean you are above the law. Goodell deserves the same harsh and unbendable justice that he's dished out to players for their crimes/indiscretions.
 
They are not a monopoly.

You can certainly start your own professional football team and a professional league is indeed starting up this Spring.

You can't use the term "National Football League" or "NFL" but you can call it something else.

It is the same as opening a hamburger restaurant. You just can't call it McDonald's or another name that is taken.

You can't, however, start your own professional baseball team. For some reason our Government decided that such a monopoly is good for our country and granted the MLBA an antitrust exemption which allows them to operate as a monopoly.

The NFL has an antitust exemption that allows them to operate as a monopoly.
Tthey are, for all intents and purposes, a monopoly. Microsoft took a beating for far tamer market manipulation than the NFL has participated in with ZERO legal ramifications.
 
The NFL's antitrust exemption given by congress allows the league to negotiate their TV deals for all 32 teams. it's what allows the NFL to keep the Sunday Ticket locked away on Direct TV instead of basic cable, and what prevents Jerry Jones from starting his own network to show Cowboys games.

It is a very big deal.

Some might say Congress has better things to do, but frankly, I'd rather they keep busy with stuff like this since they cant get any of the bigger stuff right. Any minute they spend talking about the NFL is a minute they would otherwise use to spend my money.

Besides, Goodell basically dared the media/regulators to come after him by burning all the tapes and refusing to talk about what they found for 8 months. As if we're supposed to believe the only time the Pats ever did this was during week 1 of this season. Right.
 
Last edited:
When the government gets involved, it usually hurts regular Americans. I like the NFL Sunday Ticket. Watching the Saints every week is one of the highlights in my life. If the Patriots did something wrong, they should be punished. If it takes the government getting involved, so be it.
 
i still can not see the big picture. goodell met with the eagles fan, told him coach admitted cheating since 2000, nfl told world patriots cheated, nfl punished patriots, nfl considered case closed and destroyed football tapes and notes.

what more does this eagles fan want? I do not understand, what is he hoping to accomplish that has not already been done? eagles fan says case still is not closed and will continue forward with investigation (why?), we know pats cheated, there is nothing anyone can say about pats cheating, they already admitted it. eagles fan keeps saying we can not determine which games they cheated in because tapes are destroyed. eagles fan you win, every game since bill took over as coach, what now? why are you still talking about it? what do you want done?

as you can see i'm against the eagles fan taking it this far; but seriously I have no idea what the eagles fan wants. eagles fan wants bigger punishment for cheating? eagles fan wants nfl punished for destroying tapes? eagles fan wants official asterik in record books after pats SB's?
 
I think the government has some type of responsibility to pay attention when cheating is confirmed in the NFL and then the extent of the cheating seem to be covered up by the man you would expect Tobe be the watchdog. Not being a bid betting man myself, so i can not say for sure, but isn't the NFL the most bet on thing we have going right now. It has to be toward the top. as I said, it is up to the comish to at least put forth the appearance of fairness. I guess I rank it with insider trading, when the field is not fair it hurts everybody.
 
Am I misssing something here? Did every congressman stop work on every other issue to deal only with Spygate? Did the rest of the government grind to a halt? There are dozens of other, much less important things that congresssmen deal with every day. It just doesn't make the news because it doesn't have the "sizzle" that Spygate does.
Our government is involved in regulating every industry, making sure that companies give the consumer what they are advertising. If the NFL is allowing teams to cheat and knowingly get away with an unfair advantage, then the public is getting an inferior product. They are paying $150 a ticket because they believe the playing field is level. If it's not then they are being ripped off.
And as far as the monopoly issue goes, what the NFL did to prevent the USFL from succeeding in the 1980's was indeed illegal and precisely the type of behavior other monopolies have been guilty of.
 
i still can not see the big picture. goodell met with the eagles fan, told him coach admitted cheating since 2000, nfl told world patriots cheated, nfl punished patriots, nfl considered case closed and destroyed football tapes and notes.

what more does this eagles fan want? I do not understand, what is he hoping to accomplish that has not already been done? eagles fan says case still is not closed and will continue forward with investigation (why?), we know pats cheated, there is nothing anyone can say about pats cheating, they already admitted it. eagles fan keeps saying we can not determine which games they cheated in because tapes are destroyed. eagles fan you win, every game since bill took over as coach, what now? why are you still talking about it? what do you want done?

as you can see i'm against the eagles fan taking it this far; but seriously I have no idea what the eagles fan wants. eagles fan wants bigger punishment for cheating? eagles fan wants nfl punished for destroying tapes? eagles fan wants official asterik in record books after pats SB's?
Maybe they see the Comish as a cover up guy at this point, maybe they want to see just how shady the NFL has become, and if the Pats end up with some more punishment, i wont be shedding any tears.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom