It seems no one has or ultimately will come out a winner from the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell's fight with the New England Patriots, future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady and the NFLPA over the Deflategate scandal. The issue has already wasted ample time and quite a bit of the NFL and the Patriots' money in lawyer fees and has dominated the football spotlight for months. Goodell's recent decision to uphold Brady's suspension has been painted in a negative light by some, was reportedly viewed as the only outcome that would save Goodell's credibility by others.
Now, it seems the continued money spent by Goodell and the smearing of Brady's formerly pristine name has left some NFL owners upset.
"I talked to three owners over the past week since the ruling came down on Tom Brady. And to a man, all of those owners say they are tired with the length and cost associated with the Deflategate issue, especially because they don't consider it all that important," Jason Cole of Bleacher Report reported Friday. "They believe that this should have been put to bed long ago."
Most importantly, per Cole, the seemingly unending Deflategate saga has said owners questioning Goodell's leadership due to continuing issues between the NFLPA and Goodell after the signing of the 2011 CBA and, further, potentially looking at reducing Goodell's power going forward.
"What they say now is, despite almost 50 years of the commissioner of the NFL having the power and final authority over discipline, many of them say it's time to consider an independent appeal process, that the game has grown and that things have changed and evolved to the point that taking some of that power away from the commissioner, at least in terms of final appeal, may be a positive move."
Cole's report was echoed shortly thereafter by ESPN's Jim Trotter, who cited two owners as voicing very similar concerns about Deflategate and the precedent set by the protracted fight between the league and one of its star players.
2 NFL owners told me they're unhappy w/ $$$ being spent on Brady case & the treatment of Brady. Said molehill has been made into a mountain.
— Jim Trotter (@JimTrotter_NFL) July 31, 2015
These owners said the case is a bad look for NFL and never should've gotten to this point. Reiterated Kraft point: lawyers too involved. — Jim Trotter (@JimTrotter_NFL) July 31, 2015
New York Giants owner John Mara, one of the most respected voices in the NFL, went on the record on Friday and indicated that while he still backs Goodell, he'd just like the whole ordeal to be over and done with, saying that he's "saddened it's come to this."
"We went the two weeks going into the Super Bowl that's all we talked about, Deflategate and now coming into training camp that's all we're talking about,'' Mara said, via Paul Schwartz of the New York Post. "Listen, the commissioner had a very difficult job to do here. But at the end of the day I think he made a decision based on the evidence and the facts that were before him and without regard to the profile of the player or his personal relationship with the owner.
"You know what? That's what he's paid to do and he did his job here. You can argue with whether it was fair or unfair but he had to make a very tough decision in very difficult circumstances and that's what he's paid to do.''
While it's unlikely Goodell's status as commissioner is in question, his power may be. There's simply no doubting that the Deflategate saga has been a black mark on the league in more ways than one, from the handling of the issue on all sides to the league's seeming desire to implicate one of the NFL's biggest and most recognizable stars.
