Roger Goodell Releases Statement On Patriots’ Videotape Investigation

The New England Patriots may be in trouble now. The last thing the organization needed was another Spygate scandal, and the Cincinnati Bengals have already started one. New England had a film crew in Cleveland to record segments of the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Browns. Cleveland was asked for permission, but the NFL and the Browns didn’t know anything about the recording. The team accused the Patriots of videotaping their sideline. New England said it was just a bad decision by the production department, adding that the cameraman wasn’t familiar with the league’s rules. Head coach Bill Belichick said his team has zero involvement in the process. The NFL opened an investigation into the case, and Commissioner Roger Goodell provided a brief update.

In a news conference, the NFL Commissioner said the incident involving a cameraman from the Patriots’ production team illegally videotaping the Cincinnati Bengals sideline this past Sunday was “under review.”

New England released a statement admitting their cameraman videotapes the Bengals’ sideline but said the individual was unaware that his activity violated the NFL’s rules. According to Goodell, New England’s history will be a factor in the investigation. The Patriots were involved in two major scandals, Deflategate and Spygate, and that may affect their organization.

The league fined the team $250,000 and coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and denied their first-round pick after New England was caught illegally filming the New York Jets’ sideline in 2007.

Roger Goodell is focused on the most recent incident

This history may affect the decision, but Goodell is more focused on the information he obtained from the incident.

“Of course, that is a factor,” the NFL Commissioner said. “But I think the key things are the new information that we have — that information we obviously already had. I think the issue is what information do we have from this incident.”

Coach Belichick was pretty angry about the incident, and he said the team has taken special care sine Spygate not to violate the NFL’s restrictions on videotaping.

Goodell also talked about the investigation into Antonio Brown’s case.

“They still have not completed the investigation,” Goodell said. “The investigators did; I did not meet with Antonio. But they have more work to do. They are following up on that. I will get an update when they have more information.”

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