The NFL plans on appealing Judge Richard M. Berman's decision to nullify the league's four-game suspension of Tom Brady, the league announced in a statement Thursday.
NFL will appeal judge’s DeflateGate ruling
DeflateGate never ends.
“We are grateful to Judge Berman for hearing this matter, but respectfully disagree with today’s decision,” the statement read. “We will appeal today’s ruling in order to uphold the collectively bargained responsibility to protect the integrity of the game. The commissioner’s responsibility to secure the competitive fairness of our game is a paramount principle, and the league and our 32 clubs will continue to pursue a path to that end. While the legal phase of this process continues, we look forward to focusing on football and the opening of the regular season.”
The league does not plan on seeking a stay of Berman's decision, according to Ken Belson of the New York Times, meaning Brady will be able to suit up for the Patriots' season opener next Thursday night in New England and play until the legal process concludes.
Berman's decision to overturn the suspension, which was announced Thursday morning, centers around the NFL's handling of the DeflateGate investigation. The ruling, which can be read in full here, takes issue with the league failing to give Brady "adequate notice" of potential discipline, refusing to allow Brady's legal team to question NFL general counsel Jeff Pash during the initial appeal hearing and not sharing with Brady the evidence against him. Berman also took issue with the Brady's discipline being "equivalent of the discipline imposed upon a player who used PEDs."
“The Award is premised upon several significant legal deficiencies,” Berman wrote of the four-game suspension. Nowhere in his decision does Berman make note of whether he believes Brady to be guilty of deflating football. The ruling, rather, is based on the NFL’s mishandling of the investigative and discipline process.
Berman's decision came after months of legal battles between the NFL and Brady. Berman attempted to get the two sides to compromise and reach a settlement, but the NFL was reportedly unwilling to agree to a reduced punishment unless Brady accepted the findings of Ted Wells' initial report on Brady's involvement in the deflating of footballs prior to last year's AFC Championship Game. Brady, who along with the NFLPA took issue with Wells' evidence and the fact that he was hired by the league to conduct the investigation, refused to do so.
This marks the third time over the past year that Goodell has had a suspension of his overturned in the courts, with the previous two cases involving running backs Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice. Goodell also had an arbitrator reduce Greg Hardy's 10-game suspension to four in July, and in 2012 former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue reversed Goodell's season-long suspension of numerous members of the New Orleans Saints for their alleged involvement in a bounty program.
See More:
