On Tuesday, December 11, 2012, in a balancing act that even Solomon could probably appreciate, former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue issued his written opinion (posted at NFL.com) in the pay-for-performance scandal which has plagued the New Orleans Saints.
The pay-for-performance scheme created incentives for Saints’ players to render “opposing players unable to play.” In issuing his opinion, Tagliabue noted his belief that
it is in the best interest of all parties for me to resolve this issue as completely as possible, so that everyone involved with the NFL has this matter put to rest…
Tagliabue found that NFL players had “engaged in conduct detrimental to the integrity of, and public confidence in, the game of professional football.” In fact, he noted that fines normally would be appropriate in this case. However, he chose to vacate all penalties because “the entire case has been contaminated by the coaches and others in the Saints’ organization.” In addition, previous penalties for similar behavior had not even approached the penalties imposed in this case.
An arbitration board vacated NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s original penalties and sent the matter back to Goodell for further review. Goodell imposed a second (and similar) set of player penalties and appointed Tagliabue to hear those appeals. However, just in case any present or future players or coaches were thinking about engaging in the bounty hunting business in the future because of this ruling, Tagliabue warns that
this case should not be considered a precedent for whether similar behavior in the future merits player suspensions or fines…
A balancing act to the end.