I’m not denying the patriots cheating. They were caught and dealt punishment at the time.I believe the issue is that when Goodell saw the sheer volume of information on those tapes, he realized that the cheats were bald-faced, hardcore cheating and that if it got out, A) it would completely undermine customer confidence in the league, and B) it would cause tremendous pressure from the gambling industry that Goodell has been trying to get into bed with for decades.
The cheats were SO bad it would have completely destroyed the league. Given the fact that the league gets alot of tax-exempt status and that all the stadiums are at least partially publicly funded, it could have caused Congress to have to get involved. (Arlen Specter, may he burn in hell, DID try to get involved.)
No, it was a VERY big deal and the league was forced to cover it up to protect ALL the teams. Fact is, after they let it go, Kraft and Bill had WAAAAY too much dirt on the league and they just continued to do ****, essentially DARING the league to do a ******* thing about it.
Ultimately the league was forced to support the narrative that the cheats were just "that much better than everyone else" because Bill was SUCH a micro-manager and perfection freak.
Hows his micro-managing going now that Ernie is gone? Why aren't the cheats dominating the east every single year? Cause, you know, Bill is a ******* genius.
But what is considered tainted going forth.
In terms of fair competition these owners and coaches knew about the patriots moving forward. They didn’t sniff another super bowl win until when? 2014 or something. So….