Mayor Believes its Viva Las Vegas for Raiders

Carolyn Goodman, the mayor of Las Vegas, is confident that the Oakland Raiders will move to her city – providing the prospective relocation is handled properly.

The Raiders inched closer to a move to Las Vegas last month, after owner Mark Davis met Nevada officials and pledged $500m towards the construction of a new $1.4bn, 65,000-seat domed stadium. He said the Raiders would give Las Vegas and the NFL “an offer they can’t refuse” and would turn “the Silver State into the Silver-and-Black State”.

“Mark Davis has assured us that Las Vegas is not getting played in a Raiders stadium deal,” Goodman said on Tuesday. “I think they from what I understand, if truth is truth, they will come if Nevada can go ahead and do this properly. I know we will have a team.” She said that the stadium site could also host an MLS team and UNLV football.

Davis, who inherited the Raiders after the death of his father Al in 2011, wants the team to leave the Coliseum for a football-specific stadium, and is open to staying in the Bay Area, but has not been able to strike a deal with Oakland officials. The Raiders have two one-year leases at the Coliseum that take them through 2018.

Goodman said she told Sheldon Adelson, the CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and one of the stadium project’s major backers, “to get us a team two years ago.” She said it seemed more likely at the time that Vegas would look to court the Chargers, because of the city’s connection with the Spanos family, which owns the team.

The Chargers, however, are more inclined to stay in San Diego if a deal can’t be struck to move the team to Los Angeles.

Goodman said she doesn’t see funding for the stadium as a major issue. “We are getting calls from outside the region offering to help with funding for stadium in Las Vegas,” she said.

“I think we’re certainly mature enough and ready enough for a major league any sport and have been for some years – because we’ve grown to over 2.1 million in resident population and have over 42 million visitors,” she said.

Goodman also said Las Vegas would be a destination for fans from the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and all over the west.

Related articles

• Oakland Raiders Shouldn't Count Jaylon Smith Out
• Momentum keeps building toward possible Raiders move to Las Vegas
• Raiders Close To First-Ever Season Ticket Sellout
• National Ice Cream Day - Our Favorite Ice Cream From Around The Country
• You Are What You Keep: Fabulous Collections From Three Top Designers
• January Designer Spotlight: Victoria Smith’s Favorite San Francisco Spots

Patriots Fans Sue NFL Over Draft Pick

Patriots Fans

A group of New England Patriots fans has sued the NFL in an effort to recover the first-round draft pick that was taken from the team as punishment for the “Deflategate” scandal.

The seven fans include a season ticket holder from Connecticut who said the scandal has left his seven-year-old daughter disillusioned and a Florida man who said the NFL’s sanctions have caused him stress and lost sleep.

The complaint filed on Tuesday in US district court in Boston says the NFL made an “arbitrary and capricious” decision to revoke the pick in this month’s draft even though there is no proof the team deliberately deflated footballs in the 18 January 2015, AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.

The complaint alleges, among other things, common law fraud, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and racketeering.

The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, and team owner, Robert Kraft, are named as defendants.

The complaint says the league and Goodell relied on “false premises and biased ‘investigations’” in handing down punishment, which also included a $1m fine and a four-game suspension for quarterback Tom Brady. Brady’s suspension remains under appeal.

The suit criticises Kraft for not fighting the league’s punishments harder.

“Defendant Robert Kraft had remedies to attempt to get plaintiffs’ draft pick back, but he chose his fellow billionaire owners above the plaintiffs and fellow fans,” the suit said.

Sports law experts tell the Boston Herald the suit is a Hail Mary because fans don’t have standing in the matter.

“Paying for a ticket to watch the Patriots play isn’t interfered with by the team losing a draft pick or two,” said Michael McCann, a sports law professor at the University of New Hampshire Law School.

Related articles

• Goodell: Pats won't get 'Deflategate' picks back
• Goodell: Pats won't get 'Deflategate' picks back
• New England Patriots draft pick: Roger Goodell won't change Deflategate discipline
• Roger Goodell won't return New England Patriots draft picks
• Roger Goodell won't return draft picks to Patriots
• Roger Goodell won't return draft picks to Patriots

Abdullah Retires Citing Concussion Concerns

Getty Images

A week after the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell admitted to a link between football and the degenerative brain condition CTE, the Kansas City Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah has announced his retirement at the age of 30, citing concerns over concussion.

“There are numerous deciding factors in my decision, with personal health being foremost,” wrote Abdullah in a post on Instagram. “Sitting for five weeks last year after suffering the fifth concussion of my career, I had a lot to contemplate. My goals moving forward are to be of benefit to my family, my community, my country and hopefully the world.

“Having a sound mind will be vital in accomplishing these goals. Thank you to everyone I’ve crossed paths with during my time as a player. You’ve had an impact on my life for the better. Thanks for the love and support. It’s greatly appreciated.”

Abdullah joined the Chiefs as a free agent in 2013. He had previously played for the Minnesota Vikings after finding himself undrafted out of college. He is also an practicing Muslim and took the 2012 season off to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

A number of high-profile stars have retired in their prime this off-season, including Calvin Johnson and Marshawn Lynch, although neither of those players cited any concerns over their health. In 2015, the San Francisco linebacker Chris Borland quit the NFL at the age of 24 due to concerns about head trauma. He has since described football as “inherently dangerous”.

Related articles

• If Rams play in China in 2018, Chiefs are on their schedule (arrowheadpride.com)
• Coffee and Cigarettes: Seahawks links for Friday (fieldgulls.com)
• Brian Leonhardt Signs with Raiders (proplayerinsiders.com)
• Bleacher Creatures Launches 2014 NFL Player Plush Collection Encouraging Fans to "Put Their Passion in Play" (prweb.com)
• Another Possible Overseas Opportunity For The Minnesota Vikings? (dailynorseman.com)
• Raiders Renew O.co Coliseum Lease: Latest Contract Details, Comments, Reaction (bleacherreport.com)

NFL Commissioner Supports CTE Link

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has supported the assertion of a senior league official who last week acknowledged the connection between football and the degenerative brain disease CTE, describing the statements as “consistent with our position over the years”.

Goodell’s comments on Wednesday at the annual owners meetings directly referenced NFL senior vice president Jeff Miller, whose remarks to a congressional roundtable last week represented the first time a league official has acknowledged a link between football and CTE by a league official.

“The most important thing for us is to support the medicine and scientists who determine what those connections are,” Goodell said. “We think that the statements that have been made by Jeff Miller and others have consistent with our position over the years. We’ve actually funded those studies. So we’re not only aware of those and recognize them but we support those studies. A lot of the research is still in its infancy, but we’re trying to find ways to accelerate that.”

The remarks came one day after Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones characterized the connection between football and CTE as “absurd”.

The commissioner addressed a broad range of topics at the news conference on Wednesday, including the potential relocation of a team to Las Vegas and the reports suggesting the league is near a deal to host a regular-season game in China in 2018.

Goodell wouldn’t dismiss America’s gambling capital as a potential home for an NFL team when asked about Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis’ interest in moving his club there.

“Mark Davis is appropriately looking at all his alternatives,” Goodell said, adding the city’s association with legalized betting “are things we’d have to deal with. We would have to understand the impact on us. Each owner would have a vote; it would be a factor many owners would have to balance, the league would have to balance.”

The commissioner stopped short of confirming the Los Angeles Rams’ would play a regular-season game in China – news first reported by the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday and by NFL.com on Wednesday – but acknowledged the league’s well-documented global ambitions.

“I think the size of China in the global marketplace, that’s something you can’t ignore. We know we have lots of fans over there, and more important, potential fans over there,” Goodell said. “We have multiple teams that are interested in playing. We have more than we can handle at this point in time.”

Related articles

• Roger Goodell might meet with Josh Gordon, but isn't there yet
• New England Patriots draft pick: Roger Goodell won't change Deflategate discipline
• Roger Goodell won't return draft picks to Patriots
• Roger Goodell won't return draft picks to Patriots
• Roger Goodell won't return draft picks to Patriots
• Roger Goodell says Patriots won't get first round pick back

NFL Vote on Touchbacks and Ejections

The NFL has moved touchbacks to the 25-yard line and passed a new ejections rule – despite objections from coaches.

NFL owners voted to move the ball spot on touchbacks after kickoffs to the 25-yard line, to try to limit the number of returns after injuries on the play rose in 2015. They also ruled that players will be subject to automatic ejection if they commit two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the same game. Specifically, a “player penalized twice in one game for certain types of unsportsmanlike conduct fouls” will be “disqualified”.

The automatic ejection proposal was suggested by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell just before the Super Bowl.

Both rule changes will be reviewed after the 2016 season before the NFL decides whether to make them permanent.

The owners were concerned about player safety on kickoffs – but the decision to move the touchback up five yards could have the opposite effect.

Some coaches suggested that the number of kickoff returns could actually increase, with kickers using “mortar kicks” that drop close to the goal line and require a return.

According to Deadspin, two veteran special teams coordinators told the Chicago Tribune the new rule will lead more teams telling the kickers to get as much hang time as possible while landing the ball near the goal line in an effort to cover a kick and pin the offense inside the 25 or even inside the 20.

Coaches also claimed that opponents will bait players into committing penalties that qualify for the ejection rule, but owners say that won’t happen. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said: “I think it points to our emphasis on good sportsmanship.”

Related articles

• Should Roger Goodell give Patriots their 1st round draft pick back? Peter King joins the 'yes' camp
• Nonprofit groups want NFL to stop marketing fantasy football to kids
• Paris Saint-Germain Takes the Early Edge in Champions League
• Former Packers DB Mike C. McCoy dies at age 62
• NFL Commissioner Goodell earned $34 million in 2014
• Sen'Derrick Marks starts Twitter debate on Roger Goodell's salary

Kraft Hopes for Goodell Draft News

Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, said on Monday that he personally asked NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to reinstate the draft picks the Patriots lost as part of their punishment for the Deflategate scandal.

Kraft said he wrote to the league over a month ago in response to Goodell’s claim that he would reconsider the punishment if any new facts were learned. The Patriots were stripped of a 2016 first-round pick and a 2017 fourth-round pick and were fined $1m after the league found Patriots employees had tampered with footballs during the 2015 AFC Championship game against the Colts.

“I personally believe that when the league made their decision, they did not factor in the ideal gas law. They admitted that publicly. They had a full year of being able to observe Tom Brady play with all the rules of whatever the NFL was, and make any judgments there,” Kraft told reporters in Boca Raton. “We have laid it out pretty straightforward. And now it’s up for them to decide.”

Kraft did not say whether he had received a response from the league.

Brady was originally suspended for four games, but that ruling was overturned last year and Brady played the entire season. The league is currently seeking to restore the ban.

Asked whether he holds out any hope of getting back the pick in April’s draft, Kraft said: “I pray and desire.”

“It’s very hard to compete without the lifeblood of the draft,” Kraft said. “And so we understand the importance and I assure we’ve done everything we can do that has a chance of success.”

But Kraft did praise Goodell for his work as NFL commissioner. “Putting personal situations aside, I think he has done a very good job,” Kraft said. “He’s worked hard. The health of the league has not been better. We have our issue that we don’t think has been handled well, but it is what it is.”

In the 13-minute session with reporters, Kraft was also asked if he was disappointed that the NFL didn’t share PSI readings from 2015 as part of the league’s new football testing procedures.

“They did their own testing, they have results, and for whatever reason, they haven’t shared them with any of us. We actually requested at the beginning of the season that they test every game throughout the league and do that, but they chose to do it their way,” he responded.

Related articles

• Tom Brady: 4 ways he could play until age 44
• NFL Commissioner, Westchester Resident Roger Goodell Paid $142M Since 2011
• Should NFL return Deflategate picks to Patriots?
• New England Patriots Tickets Already in High Demand | Available Now at...
• Giants Win!
• Should Roger Goodell give Patriots their 1st round draft pick back? Peter King joins the 'yes' camp

NFL Commissoner Goodell Bags $34.1M

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s endured a stormy 2014, as the league he oversees received criticism over the handling of the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson domestic violence cases. But Goodell was rewarded well for any stress he was placed under, with ESPN reporting he earned $34.1m in 2014. 

In the same period the league spent $10m on concussion research, an issue that has plagued the league’s image and has been linked to the death of a number of former players. 

Goodell earned a base salary of $3.5m, as well as a bonus of $26.5m, $3.7m in pension payments and just over $250,000 in “other reportable compensation”.

The NFL has non-profit status, which means its tax filings – including Goodell’s pay packet – are a matter of public record. However, the league is giving up its non-profit status after Goodell said it would “make no material difference to our business”, meaning his salary will not be made public in future.

The $34.1m Goodell made in 2014 is above the average of $20m a year he has made in his nine years as commissioner. While Goodell’s salary is huge, it is comparable with other people in similar trades. The NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman, made far less than Goodell with earnings of $9.6m in the 2013-14 season but the league’s revenues were much lower at $3.7bn. However, another figure in the world of sports, Nike CEO Mark Parker, made $14.7m off company revenue of $27.7bn.

Other expenses listed on the NFL’s tax filings were more $13m for office rental and $16m in legal fees.

Related articles

• Roger Goodell says NFL will interview women for executive roles
• Goodell open to changing league discipline procedures
• A Day in Failed Dabs: Roger Goodell and Ed Werder
• ESPN to televise Monday night game from Mexico City
• NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell proposes automatic ejections after two personal fouls
• Live stream, updates: Will Roger Goodell actually answer questions in Super Bowl 2016 press conference?

Sympathy for Suspended Staff - Brady

Tom Brady spoke to reporters directly for the first time over the Deflategate scandal, acknowledging the toll it has taken on New England Patriots’ staff and their families.

On Thursday, a judge overturned Brady’s four-game NFL suspension, which was handed down after an investigation concluded he was probably aware that footballs had been deliberately underinflated during the Patriots’ AFC Championship game victory over the Indianapolis Colts. However, two members of the Patriots’ locker room staff – John Jastremski and Jim McNally – are still suspended over the incident. The NFL said that it would ban the two if the Patriots didn’t do so first.

“It’s been a very tough situation for everybody. It’s put a lot of stress on everybody’s families,” Brady said before team practice on Sunday. “I feel bad that anybody is in the position that we’ve been put in. Hopefully we can just keep learning from life’s experiences, and I certainly feel terrible for them that they’re not able to be with us right now.” Brady would not say whether he had been in contact with McNally and Jastremski.

Brady said he was now focused on the season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers this coming Thursday. “It’s obviously been a long seven months for everybody, but I think now the goal is to focus on what my job is and what I need to go out there and do to help our team win,” he said. “Anything that has happened over the past seven months, obviously I have a lot of personal feelings. But I really don’t care to share many of those. I really care to think about what I need to do going forward. There are a lot of guys in this locker room that have worked really hard to get to this point, and so have I.”

Ben Roethlisberger will face Brady as the Steelers’ starting quarterback this week, and told reporters on Sunday that he felt that Brady’s punishment had been unduly harsh before it was overturned. “[I] just felt like the league had done something without ... I guess it was just more of a feeling, an inkling, of knowing that the commissioner jumped to a pretty harsh punishment,” Roethlisberger said. “I figured that would happen.”

Roethlisberger also said he had mixed feelings about the Patriots having one of the league’s best players at their disposal again. “I still have a ton of respect for Tom. I think he’s the best in the business. If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best,” Roethlisberger said. “Of course, one part of you doesn’t want him out there, because he is the best in the world. A bigger part of you as a competitor wants him out there because he is the best. It’s the way that NFL football should start, and that’s maybe one of the reasons I knew that Tom would be out there, because I knew the NFL doesn’t want to start a game without him out there.”

Related articles

• DeflateGate Is Not About Deflated Footballs; It's About The NFL's Systematic Failure To Follow Rules
• NFL playoff odds 2015: Patriots on move with Tom Brady back
• Tom Brady says he's sorry NFL had to 'endure' Deflategate scandal
• Tom Brady's Deflategate Suspension Tossed by Judge, Eligible to Play Season Opener
• How to get back in the game if you've been released like Peyton Manning from your job
• Tom Brady Suspension Overturned by Judge Berman