The NFL suspended Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross for one year on Tuesday and was also fined $1.5 million for violating the league’s integrity policies.
According to the league, the penalties are due to the Dolphins trying to negotiate with Tampa Bay Buccaners quarterback Tom Brady and former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton while they were under contract with their respective equipment.
“Investigators found tampering violations of unprecedented scope and severity. I am not aware of any prior case of a team violating the ban on manipulating both a head coach and a star player to the detriment of other teams,” read the message from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
On the other hand, the second aspect of the sanction corresponds to the suspicion about whether the Dolphins intentionally lost games during the season 2019 to improve their position in the Draft, in a complaint that former Miami coach Brian Flores had already made .
Due to this last situation, the NFL punished the team with the loss of the first round selection of the Draft 2023 and the third round of the 2024 that corresponded to him.
To reach this ruling, the NFL began an investigation six months ago that was directed by the former Federal prosecutor and president of the Securities and Exchange Commission ( United States Securities and Exchange Commission), Mary Jo White.
In the investigation it was established that the Dolphins had impermissible communications with Brady on 2019-2020 when he was with the Patriots and in December of 2021 when he played for the Bu ccaneers, in order to convince him to emigrate to Miami.
By the decision, owner Stephen Ross was removed from all NFL committees indefinitely and will not be able to attend any league meeting before of the Annual Meeting of the League of 2023.