Please answer case 2.12 : ?Deflategate and Spygate: The New England Patriots?from Business Ethics subject Unit Two
Fantastic news! We've Found the answer you've been seeking!
Question:
Please answer
case 2.12 : ?Deflategate and Spygate: The New England Patriots?from Business Ethics subject
Transcribed Image Text:
Unit Two Solving Ethical Dilemmas and Personal Introspection of the morning. However, Pennsylvania Senator Jake Corman and Pennsylvania treasurer Robert McCord filed suit against the NCAA and Penn State itself challenging the sane. of of the tions. At the time of the suit, the NCAA was in the process of lifting the bulk sanctions, as noted earlier. Fans are now pressing to have Mr. Paterno s statue restored to its original place on campus. On September 17, 2016, Penn State had a ceremony honoring that its operating rev. Mr. Paterno at a home football game. After the first season following the trial and tion and the revelations of the Freeh Report, Penn State disclosed t enue was down $7.9 million, although its donations increased by 350 %.200 The series of bag, tells events subsequent to what happened at Penn State, some of which remain a powerful story about the consequences of behaviors and decisions about case brings to mind poignant line of the prince in Romeo and Juliet as he realizes the lost of two young lives and those of so many of their family and friends: All are punished.201 Discussion Questions 1. Penn State is an honorable institution that is trying desperately to defend it s [sic] ethics and all of the individuals who had nothing to do with this horrific scandal, which have been destroyed by the actions/ inactions of a few individuals. The quote comes from a blog on the Penn State scandal. Evaluate the accuracy of the blogger s thoughts. Why does it happen that many are pun- ished for the actions of a few? Or is that an accu- rate assessment-is it the actions of a few? 2. Oregon State President Ed Ray, who announced - the Penn State sanctions, said that what happened occurred because of the Penn State culture, that the football program had consumed the values of the university. What does he mean? What can you point to in the case that illustrates his point? 3. List all of the categories of ethical issues you see that occurred over the course of the events. 4. Make a list of all the stakeholders in this case. 5. What does the case teach us about the importance of speaking up? Of raising objections? Give exam ples of why people did not speak up in this case. 6. What do you learn about the differences between legal and ethical conduct from this case? Case 2.12 Deflategate and Spygate: The New England Patriots The United States was abuzz for three weeks in January 2015 because one of the teams headed to the championship game (Super Bowl XLIX) for the National Football League (NFL) was under investigation by the league for cheating during the AFC Championship Game. During the first half of the game, the Colts raised a question about the inflation of the footballs. Fol- lowing the game between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts, a referee for the NFL discovered that 11 of the 12 footballs used by the New England Patriots were under- inflated (below 12.5 psi). The footballs for the Colts were measured at 12.5 to 13.5 psi. The result of the findings was a scandal now referred to as Deflategate. The issue took many twists and turns throughout the two weeks leading to the Super Bowl. The New England Patri- ots were victorious in the Super Bowl, but the twists and turns continued because the NFL s investigation was incomplete, as it were, prior to the Super Bowl for 2015. The Patriots History One of the reasons the public was so quick to judge the Patriots as cheaters and the NFL pounced on the deflated footballs was the team s past history. In 2007, the team and its 19Rachel Axon and Erik Brady, Did Penn State Really Face Shutdown? USA Today, January 16, 2015, p. 1C. Kris Maher, Fans Press Penn State to Restore a Coach s Legacy, Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2015, p. A3. 200Steve Berkowitz and Jodi Upton, Athletic Revenue Falls at Penn State, USA Today, April 9, 2013, p. 1c. 20¹ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act V, Scene III, I. 295. Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in Business Section C 109 head coach paid fines and the club lost a draft pick for what was called Spygate at the time. The Patriots had filmed, from the sideline, the defensive coaches for the New York Jets team during one of that team s games early in the football season, that is, before the Patriots had to face them. The commissioner for the NFL deemed the videotaping a viola- tion of NFL rules and imposed the penalties. The Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick, said that he never filmed the signals during a game he was in, something that he knew to be a violation, We have never used sideline video to obtain a competitive advantage while the game was in progress. 55 202 Despite the violation and resulting sanctions, there was no real acceptance or remorse by the coach or the Patriot organization. The club s handling of the issue carried a bit of arrogance, arrogance that stuck in the craw of fans, other clubs, and even the media that cover the sport. That attitude reemerged almost instantly when Deflategate became another cheating scandal. Once a cheater, always a cheater was the mantra. People who could not name the last president of the United State recalled the seven-year old Spygate incident involving the Patriots. Memories cover investigations that result in no action as well as those that result in sanctions. The guilt is assumed in both. Regardless of the outcome, the company has crossed a line and carries that taint. This warning about continuing missteps provides an important lesson, which is avoid conduct that results in the investigation or allegations the first time. When there is a pattern, unequivocal denials in subsequent investigations and questions fall on deaf ears. No matter how innocent you are the next time, the past casts doubt on your denials. That Gray Area Coach Belichick and many others live in the gray area. One sports analyst phrased it this way, Rule breaking and bending are two different things. A lot of coaches bend the rules to take creative advantage. 203 Dwelling in the gray area (filming, but only during others games) puts a team at risk. Whatever benefit the team derives from that activity may be lost over the long term when the sanctions are imposed. Still, that gray area tempts us. We are not of a mind to break the rules, but we are fine with pushing the envelope a bit. Where is that line? Teams are always looking to find that edge, that something that puts them one up on the competition. For example, the Patriots use an unusual formation in offense-one that involves the use of an unbalanced line that disguises which players are the eligible receivers in the lineup. One commentator said about the Patriots formation strategy that it is bend versus break. But another said, It s legal. But I don t feel good about it. 204 Not everyone is clear where the line is, not comfort- able with toes to the line or, depending on how you view it, slightly over that line. What begins as legal often ends up as regulation and whatever advantage is gained from the bend is lost. Behaving in a manner that runs contra to the spirit of the law is usuall only temporary. For example, NFL players once coated their jerseys with silicone to mak them slippery, thereby making them invincible to tackles. The NFL caught on, and alte ation of jerseys with substances is now prohibited. Regulation tightens when participar skirt the good faith assumptions of the game or the law. Now in the NFL the officials che players jerseys before, during, and after the game.205 202Tim Layden, Patriot Shames, Sports Illustrated, February 2, 2013, p. 12. 20Erik Brady and Jim Corbett, Rules: Bend, Don t Break, USA Today, January 30, 2015, p. 1C. 204d. 205 Gary Milhoces, Ball Security on High Alert, USA Today, January 30, 2015, p. 3C. 110 Unit Two Solving Ethical Dilemmas and Personal Introspection When the Allegations Fly: What to Do? When Deflategate emerged in the media, the questions, the discussions, and national curi. osity put the Patriots in the position that many businesses find themselves in when accused of a misstep. In these situations, saying nothing can be devastating for a company s repu. tation. The Patriots had three individuals who faced the media scrutiny, and each of their experiences offers good business lessons. Coach Belichick was the first to face the media and his response to nearly every ques. tion was, I don t know or I don t know anything about it. He also added, in an effort to divorce the team s reputation from Spygate, We try to do everything right. We err on the side of caution. It s been that way for many years. 206 However unwittingly, Coach Belichick revealed his ethical standards. Trying to do everything right is not the same things as get- ting it right. His statement also served as a reminder that erring on the side of caution has not been a characteristic of the Belichick rein. Flying as close as possible to the treetops is the well-known Patriots style when it comes to the rules. The phrase, it s been that way for many years, was a confession about Spygate, a confession that was years in the making. Coach Belichick also gave one more response, Talk to Tom (Tom Brady, the Patriots quarterback). Many CEOs have tried the same I know nothing tact, and deferred to those who report to them for answers. The media swarmed along that afternoon to Mr. Brady. Mr. Brady also said that he knew nothing. A Saturday Night Live Skit lampooned Mr. Brady s press conference by depicting him as surprised to learn how much money he made; he did not know anything about that either in the comedic and parodic minds of the world of skits. 207 When asked if he cheated, he said, I don t believe I m a cheater. All was quiet for a time until the owner of the Patriots, Robert Kraft, faced the media with a defiant offense. He demanded an apology from the NFL for putting his team under such scrutiny at a time when they needed to focus on their preparation for the Super Bowl. He said he expected a full apology once his team was cleared as it should be.208 The response was along the lines of many in business and government who respond to allega- tions by proclaiming, I have done absolutely nothing wrong, only to end up in prison. The media had difficulty swallowing the Belichick claims that he knew nothing when they have covered the coach since 2001 and know that as both general manager and coach for the Patriots he knows everyone in the organization and everything that goes on in its facilities. 209 His claim of isolation from the critical tool of the sport of football only sparked more debate. The denial, the interpretation, the outrage the Patriots offered fueled the frenzy. The Industry By the time Deflategate emerged, the NFL was winding up a rugged year in terms of public relations and missteps. Commissioner Roger Goddell had been roundly criticized for his failure to take swift action against a player who beat his girlfriend (now wife) in an eleva- tor (with the brutal blows captured on security video). This incident was followed by one in which another player was criminally charged for beating his four-year-old son with a switch. Mr. Goddell was pilloried for soft penalties in both cases, slow reaction, reversals of pen- alties, followed by additional penalties when more facts emerged.210 In short, investigations 200Layden, Patriot Shames, p. 12. 20http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/patriots-press-conference-cold-open/2842425. 208 Heard at Media Day. Wall Street Journal, January 28, 2015, p. D6. Christopher Caldwell, The Management Genius of Bill Belichick, Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2015, p. C1. 210 Nancy Armour, Dropping the Ball, USA Today, January 27, 2015, p. 1C. Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in Business and sanctions within the industry had been bungled. At the time of Deflategate, the player draft was on the horizon, and the team with the first pick in the draft had already announced that it was going to pick a young man with a checkered past, with the latest incident being a rape accusation by a fellow student at Florida State University.211 Section C 111 When news of the underinflated football controversy emerged, the teams were respond- ing, but there was little information coming from the NFL about its plan of action. Not until the Super Bowl was over did the NFL announce the name of the lawyer hired to con- duct the investigation. One U.S. Senator commented, If I were them, I would review my whole PR scheme. 212 The Outcome The NFL commissioned an investigation by attorney Theodore V. Wells. The report, issued on May 6, 2015, and known as the Wells Report, concluded that it was more probable than not (the standard of proof in civil matters in law) that Brady and the Patriots were engaged in some sort of rule-violating activity with the footballs.1 The Wells Report is an interesting and detailed 108-page read that involves not only interviews of Patriots staff members, play- ers, coaches, and reporters but also includes interviews of experts on the Ideal Gas Law, who concluded that there was no way to explain the under-inflation of the Patriots footballs except by human intervention. The text messages between equipment managers also indicate that the equipment staff members were taking action on behalf of Tom Brady. The report is scathing in its reflections on Tom Brady s lack of cooperation and the destruction of his text messages. The following is a summary of Mr. Wells interaction with Brady and counsel for the Patriots: Our inability to review contemporaneous communications and other documents in Brady s possession and control related to the matters under review potentially limited the discovery of relevant evidence and was not helpful to the investigation. At various points in the investigation, counsel for the Patriots questioned the integrity and objectivity of game officials, various NFL executives and certain NFL Security representatives present at the AFC Championship Game or otherwise involved in the investigative process. We found no evidence to substantiate the questions raised by counsel.214 Belichick and the Patriots accepted a $1 million fine and the loss of first and fourth- round draft picks. 215 Tom Brady received a four-game suspension because the NFL Com- missioner found (1) there was substantial and credible evidence that Brady was at least generally aware of the... Patriots employees ... deflation of the footballs and (2) Brady failed to cooperate fully and candidly with the investigation. 216 However, on behalf of Brady, the NFL Players Association went to federal court where the judge tossed the sus- pension as being outside the authority of the NFL in terms of its contract with the players union. The judge also found that because it was not clear from the contract that a penalty such as a four-game suspension was possible for breaking the rules that Mr. Brady was deprived of due process, substantive due process. Substantive due process occurs when someone is charged and convicted of a crime when he or she is not aware that it is a crime or did not understand the penalties for the crime.217 21Wells Report, p. 25. 215 Jarrett Bell, Neither Side Has Public s Trust, USA Today, August 3, 2015, p. 3C. 2112 Ex-Vanderbilt Students Convicted of Rape, New York Times, January 24, 2015, p. A14. Bill Pennington, The Tricky Calculus of Picking Jameis Winston, New York Times, January 31, 2015, p. A1. 2121d. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2073728-ted-wells-report- 213The Wells report can be found here: deflategate.html. 216 NFL Mgmt. Council v. NFL Players Ass n, Nos. 15 Civ. 5916, 15 Civ. 5982, 2015 WL 5148739 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 3, 2015). 217 National Football League Management Council v. National Football League Players Ass n, 125 F. Supp. 3d. 449 (S.D.N.Y. 2015). You can read more about the due process issues in the NFL at Caroline A. Carmer, NFL Manage- ment Council v. NFL Players Ass n Deflates the NFL Commissioner s Authority, 23 Sports Law Journal 201 (2016). 12 Unit Two Solving Ethical Dilemmas and Personal Introspection The team was fined and penalized without the player involved being sanctioned. Iron- ically, the Wells Report concluded that Coach Belichick did not have any knowledge of skullduggery related to the inflation of the footballs. The NFL appealed the federal district court decision in January 2016.2¹8 The appellate court held that the lower court judge had no authority to intervene in a private process and that the ruling against Mr. Brady should stand.219 The court held the following: 1. The Commissioner s (Mr. Goddell) decision to discipline Mr. Brady pursuant to collective bargaining agreement provision giving him broad authority to deal with conduct he believed might undermine integrity of the game was grounded in parties agreement; 3. The Commissioner s decision. 2. The collective bargaining agreement did not preclude the Commissioner from suspending player for first offense, base Mr. Brady s punishment on league s steroid policy was within his authority under the agreement; 4. The Commissioner was within his discretion to conclude that Mr. Brady had participated in scheme; 5. Mr. Brady had sufficient notice that destruction of his cell phone would be issue in arbitration; 6. Mr. Brady should take his four-game suspension. Mr. Brady finished his four-game suspension in October 2016, and the Patriots went on to win the Super Bowl in February 2017. Mr. Goddell and Mr. Brady shared an awkward moment as the trophy was passed. Discussion Questions 1. What significance do you attach to Tom Brady s. answer, I don t believe I cheated ? 2. Evaluate how the legal issues ended up versus the eth- ical issues that you see and discuss the issue of proof. 3. Is there anything that a credo might have helped with in this situation? Case 2.13 Damaging Reviews on the Internet: The Reality and the Harm The problems of those online reviews. The number of stars, or lack thereof, can make or break a business. Consider Joe Hadeed s carpet cleaning business. A slew of negative reviews about his work began cropping up on Yelp in 2012.220 Yelp is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in California. Yelp is a social-networking website that allows its users to post and read reviews on local businesses. In the first quarter of 2013, Yelp had an average of approximately 102 million monthly, unique visitors. Contributors to Yelp have written over 39 million local reviews. Yelp users must register to post reviews. The registration process requires users to provide Yelp with a valid e-mail address. Users are then free to choose a screen name to use when posting their reviews. Yelp further allows users to designate a zip code of their own choosing as their location. Yelp does not require users to use their actual name or 218 Jason Gay, Deflategate, Brady, Turtle, Rabbit, Juice Box, Wall Street Journal, September 4, 2015, p. D8. 219 National Football League Management Council v. National Football League Players Ass n, 820 F.3d 527 (2nd Cir. 2016). 220Angus Loten, Yelp Reviews Fuel Free-Speech Fight, Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2014, p. B1. Unit Two Solving Ethical Dilemmas and Personal Introspection of the morning. However, Pennsylvania Senator Jake Corman and Pennsylvania treasurer Robert McCord filed suit against the NCAA and Penn State itself challenging the sane. of of the tions. At the time of the suit, the NCAA was in the process of lifting the bulk sanctions, as noted earlier. Fans are now pressing to have Mr. Paterno s statue restored to its original place on campus. On September 17, 2016, Penn State had a ceremony honoring that its operating rev. Mr. Paterno at a home football game. After the first season following the trial and tion and the revelations of the Freeh Report, Penn State disclosed t enue was down $7.9 million, although its donations increased by 350 %.200 The series of bag, tells events subsequent to what happened at Penn State, some of which remain a powerful story about the consequences of behaviors and decisions about case brings to mind poignant line of the prince in Romeo and Juliet as he realizes the lost of two young lives and those of so many of their family and friends: All are punished.201 Discussion Questions 1. Penn State is an honorable institution that is trying desperately to defend it s [sic] ethics and all of the individuals who had nothing to do with this horrific scandal, which have been destroyed by the actions/ inactions of a few individuals. The quote comes from a blog on the Penn State scandal. Evaluate the accuracy of the blogger s thoughts. Why does it happen that many are pun- ished for the actions of a few? Or is that an accu- rate assessment-is it the actions of a few? 2. Oregon State President Ed Ray, who announced - the Penn State sanctions, said that what happened occurred because of the Penn State culture, that the football program had consumed the values of the university. What does he mean? What can you point to in the case that illustrates his point? 3. List all of the categories of ethical issues you see that occurred over the course of the events. 4. Make a list of all the stakeholders in this case. 5. What does the case teach us about the importance of speaking up? Of raising objections? Give exam ples of why people did not speak up in this case. 6. What do you learn about the differences between legal and ethical conduct from this case? Case 2.12 Deflategate and Spygate: The New England Patriots The United States was abuzz for three weeks in January 2015 because one of the teams headed to the championship game (Super Bowl XLIX) for the National Football League (NFL) was under investigation by the league for cheating during the AFC Championship Game. During the first half of the game, the Colts raised a question about the inflation of the footballs. Fol- lowing the game between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts, a referee for the NFL discovered that 11 of the 12 footballs used by the New England Patriots were under- inflated (below 12.5 psi). The footballs for the Colts were measured at 12.5 to 13.5 psi. The result of the findings was a scandal now referred to as Deflategate. The issue took many twists and turns throughout the two weeks leading to the Super Bowl. The New England Patri- ots were victorious in the Super Bowl, but the twists and turns continued because the NFL s investigation was incomplete, as it were, prior to the Super Bowl for 2015. The Patriots History One of the reasons the public was so quick to judge the Patriots as cheaters and the NFL pounced on the deflated footballs was the team s past history. In 2007, the team and its 19Rachel Axon and Erik Brady, Did Penn State Really Face Shutdown? USA Today, January 16, 2015, p. 1C. Kris Maher, Fans Press Penn State to Restore a Coach s Legacy, Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2015, p. A3. 200Steve Berkowitz and Jodi Upton, Athletic Revenue Falls at Penn State, USA Today, April 9, 2013, p. 1c. 20¹ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act V, Scene III, I. 295. Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in Business Section C 109 head coach paid fines and the club lost a draft pick for what was called Spygate at the time. The Patriots had filmed, from the sideline, the defensive coaches for the New York Jets team during one of that team s games early in the football season, that is, before the Patriots had to face them. The commissioner for the NFL deemed the videotaping a viola- tion of NFL rules and imposed the penalties. The Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick, said that he never filmed the signals during a game he was in, something that he knew to be a violation, We have never used sideline video to obtain a competitive advantage while the game was in progress. 55 202 Despite the violation and resulting sanctions, there was no real acceptance or remorse by the coach or the Patriot organization. The club s handling of the issue carried a bit of arrogance, arrogance that stuck in the craw of fans, other clubs, and even the media that cover the sport. That attitude reemerged almost instantly when Deflategate became another cheating scandal. Once a cheater, always a cheater was the mantra. People who could not name the last president of the United State recalled the seven-year old Spygate incident involving the Patriots. Memories cover investigations that result in no action as well as those that result in sanctions. The guilt is assumed in both. Regardless of the outcome, the company has crossed a line and carries that taint. This warning about continuing missteps provides an important lesson, which is avoid conduct that results in the investigation or allegations the first time. When there is a pattern, unequivocal denials in subsequent investigations and questions fall on deaf ears. No matter how innocent you are the next time, the past casts doubt on your denials. That Gray Area Coach Belichick and many others live in the gray area. One sports analyst phrased it this way, Rule breaking and bending are two different things. A lot of coaches bend the rules to take creative advantage. 203 Dwelling in the gray area (filming, but only during others games) puts a team at risk. Whatever benefit the team derives from that activity may be lost over the long term when the sanctions are imposed. Still, that gray area tempts us. We are not of a mind to break the rules, but we are fine with pushing the envelope a bit. Where is that line? Teams are always looking to find that edge, that something that puts them one up on the competition. For example, the Patriots use an unusual formation in offense-one that involves the use of an unbalanced line that disguises which players are the eligible receivers in the lineup. One commentator said about the Patriots formation strategy that it is bend versus break. But another said, It s legal. But I don t feel good about it. 204 Not everyone is clear where the line is, not comfort- able with toes to the line or, depending on how you view it, slightly over that line. What begins as legal often ends up as regulation and whatever advantage is gained from the bend is lost. Behaving in a manner that runs contra to the spirit of the law is usuall only temporary. For example, NFL players once coated their jerseys with silicone to mak them slippery, thereby making them invincible to tackles. The NFL caught on, and alte ation of jerseys with substances is now prohibited. Regulation tightens when participar skirt the good faith assumptions of the game or the law. Now in the NFL the officials che players jerseys before, during, and after the game.205 202Tim Layden, Patriot Shames, Sports Illustrated, February 2, 2013, p. 12. 20Erik Brady and Jim Corbett, Rules: Bend, Don t Break, USA Today, January 30, 2015, p. 1C. 204d. 205 Gary Milhoces, Ball Security on High Alert, USA Today, January 30, 2015, p. 3C. 110 Unit Two Solving Ethical Dilemmas and Personal Introspection When the Allegations Fly: What to Do? When Deflategate emerged in the media, the questions, the discussions, and national curi. osity put the Patriots in the position that many businesses find themselves in when accused of a misstep. In these situations, saying nothing can be devastating for a company s repu. tation. The Patriots had three individuals who faced the media scrutiny, and each of their experiences offers good business lessons. Coach Belichick was the first to face the media and his response to nearly every ques. tion was, I don t know or I don t know anything about it. He also added, in an effort to divorce the team s reputation from Spygate, We try to do everything right. We err on the side of caution. It s been that way for many years. 206 However unwittingly, Coach Belichick revealed his ethical standards. Trying to do everything right is not the same things as get- ting it right. His statement also served as a reminder that erring on the side of caution has not been a characteristic of the Belichick rein. Flying as close as possible to the treetops is the well-known Patriots style when it comes to the rules. The phrase, it s been that way for many years, was a confession about Spygate, a confession that was years in the making. Coach Belichick also gave one more response, Talk to Tom (Tom Brady, the Patriots quarterback). Many CEOs have tried the same I know nothing tact, and deferred to those who report to them for answers. The media swarmed along that afternoon to Mr. Brady. Mr. Brady also said that he knew nothing. A Saturday Night Live Skit lampooned Mr. Brady s press conference by depicting him as surprised to learn how much money he made; he did not know anything about that either in the comedic and parodic minds of the world of skits. 207 When asked if he cheated, he said, I don t believe I m a cheater. All was quiet for a time until the owner of the Patriots, Robert Kraft, faced the media with a defiant offense. He demanded an apology from the NFL for putting his team under such scrutiny at a time when they needed to focus on their preparation for the Super Bowl. He said he expected a full apology once his team was cleared as it should be.208 The response was along the lines of many in business and government who respond to allega- tions by proclaiming, I have done absolutely nothing wrong, only to end up in prison. The media had difficulty swallowing the Belichick claims that he knew nothing when they have covered the coach since 2001 and know that as both general manager and coach for the Patriots he knows everyone in the organization and everything that goes on in its facilities. 209 His claim of isolation from the critical tool of the sport of football only sparked more debate. The denial, the interpretation, the outrage the Patriots offered fueled the frenzy. The Industry By the time Deflategate emerged, the NFL was winding up a rugged year in terms of public relations and missteps. Commissioner Roger Goddell had been roundly criticized for his failure to take swift action against a player who beat his girlfriend (now wife) in an eleva- tor (with the brutal blows captured on security video). This incident was followed by one in which another player was criminally charged for beating his four-year-old son with a switch. Mr. Goddell was pilloried for soft penalties in both cases, slow reaction, reversals of pen- alties, followed by additional penalties when more facts emerged.210 In short, investigations 200Layden, Patriot Shames, p. 12. 20http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/patriots-press-conference-cold-open/2842425. 208 Heard at Media Day. Wall Street Journal, January 28, 2015, p. D6. Christopher Caldwell, The Management Genius of Bill Belichick, Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2015, p. C1. 210 Nancy Armour, Dropping the Ball, USA Today, January 27, 2015, p. 1C. Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in Business and sanctions within the industry had been bungled. At the time of Deflategate, the player draft was on the horizon, and the team with the first pick in the draft had already announced that it was going to pick a young man with a checkered past, with the latest incident being a rape accusation by a fellow student at Florida State University.211 Section C 111 When news of the underinflated football controversy emerged, the teams were respond- ing, but there was little information coming from the NFL about its plan of action. Not until the Super Bowl was over did the NFL announce the name of the lawyer hired to con- duct the investigation. One U.S. Senator commented, If I were them, I would review my whole PR scheme. 212 The Outcome The NFL commissioned an investigation by attorney Theodore V. Wells. The report, issued on May 6, 2015, and known as the Wells Report, concluded that it was more probable than not (the standard of proof in civil matters in law) that Brady and the Patriots were engaged in some sort of rule-violating activity with the footballs.1 The Wells Report is an interesting and detailed 108-page read that involves not only interviews of Patriots staff members, play- ers, coaches, and reporters but also includes interviews of experts on the Ideal Gas Law, who concluded that there was no way to explain the under-inflation of the Patriots footballs except by human intervention. The text messages between equipment managers also indicate that the equipment staff members were taking action on behalf of Tom Brady. The report is scathing in its reflections on Tom Brady s lack of cooperation and the destruction of his text messages. The following is a summary of Mr. Wells interaction with Brady and counsel for the Patriots: Our inability to review contemporaneous communications and other documents in Brady s possession and control related to the matters under review potentially limited the discovery of relevant evidence and was not helpful to the investigation. At various points in the investigation, counsel for the Patriots questioned the integrity and objectivity of game officials, various NFL executives and certain NFL Security representatives present at the AFC Championship Game or otherwise involved in the investigative process. We found no evidence to substantiate the questions raised by counsel.214 Belichick and the Patriots accepted a $1 million fine and the loss of first and fourth- round draft picks. 215 Tom Brady received a four-game suspension because the NFL Com- missioner found (1) there was substantial and credible evidence that Brady was at least generally aware of the... Patriots employees ... deflation of the footballs and (2) Brady failed to cooperate fully and candidly with the investigation. 216 However, on behalf of Brady, the NFL Players Association went to federal court where the judge tossed the sus- pension as being outside the authority of the NFL in terms of its contract with the players union. The judge also found that because it was not clear from the contract that a penalty such as a four-game suspension was possible for breaking the rules that Mr. Brady was deprived of due process, substantive due process. Substantive due process occurs when someone is charged and convicted of a crime when he or she is not aware that it is a crime or did not understand the penalties for the crime.217 21Wells Report, p. 25. 215 Jarrett Bell, Neither Side Has Public s Trust, USA Today, August 3, 2015, p. 3C. 2112 Ex-Vanderbilt Students Convicted of Rape, New York Times, January 24, 2015, p. A14. Bill Pennington, The Tricky Calculus of Picking Jameis Winston, New York Times, January 31, 2015, p. A1. 2121d. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2073728-ted-wells-report- 213The Wells report can be found here: deflategate.html. 216 NFL Mgmt. Council v. NFL Players Ass n, Nos. 15 Civ. 5916, 15 Civ. 5982, 2015 WL 5148739 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 3, 2015). 217 National Football League Management Council v. National Football League Players Ass n, 125 F. Supp. 3d. 449 (S.D.N.Y. 2015). You can read more about the due process issues in the NFL at Caroline A. Carmer, NFL Manage- ment Council v. NFL Players Ass n Deflates the NFL Commissioner s Authority, 23 Sports Law Journal 201 (2016). 12 Unit Two Solving Ethical Dilemmas and Personal Introspection The team was fined and penalized without the player involved being sanctioned. Iron- ically, the Wells Report concluded that Coach Belichick did not have any knowledge of skullduggery related to the inflation of the footballs. The NFL appealed the federal district court decision in January 2016.2¹8 The appellate court held that the lower court judge had no authority to intervene in a private process and that the ruling against Mr. Brady should stand.219 The court held the following: 1. The Commissioner s (Mr. Goddell) decision to discipline Mr. Brady pursuant to collective bargaining agreement provision giving him broad authority to deal with conduct he believed might undermine integrity of the game was grounded in parties agreement; 3. The Commissioner s decision. 2. The collective bargaining agreement did not preclude the Commissioner from suspending player for first offense, base Mr. Brady s punishment on league s steroid policy was within his authority under the agreement; 4. The Commissioner was within his discretion to conclude that Mr. Brady had participated in scheme; 5. Mr. Brady had sufficient notice that destruction of his cell phone would be issue in arbitration; 6. Mr. Brady should take his four-game suspension. Mr. Brady finished his four-game suspension in October 2016, and the Patriots went on to win the Super Bowl in February 2017. Mr. Goddell and Mr. Brady shared an awkward moment as the trophy was passed. Discussion Questions 1. What significance do you attach to Tom Brady s. answer, I don t believe I cheated ? 2. Evaluate how the legal issues ended up versus the eth- ical issues that you see and discuss the issue of proof. 3. Is there anything that a credo might have helped with in this situation? Case 2.13 Damaging Reviews on the Internet: The Reality and the Harm The problems of those online reviews. The number of stars, or lack thereof, can make or break a business. Consider Joe Hadeed s carpet cleaning business. A slew of negative reviews about his work began cropping up on Yelp in 2012.220 Yelp is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in California. Yelp is a social-networking website that allows its users to post and read reviews on local businesses. In the first quarter of 2013, Yelp had an average of approximately 102 million monthly, unique visitors. Contributors to Yelp have written over 39 million local reviews. Yelp users must register to post reviews. The registration process requires users to provide Yelp with a valid e-mail address. Users are then free to choose a screen name to use when posting their reviews. Yelp further allows users to designate a zip code of their own choosing as their location. Yelp does not require users to use their actual name or 218 Jason Gay, Deflategate, Brady, Turtle, Rabbit, Juice Box, Wall Street Journal, September 4, 2015, p. D8. 219 National Football League Management Council v. National Football League Players Ass n, 820 F.3d 527 (2nd Cir. 2016). 220Angus Loten, Yelp Reviews Fuel Free-Speech Fight, Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2014, p. B1.
Expert Answer:
Answer rating: 100% (QA)
1 Tom Bradys statement I dont believe I cheated provides ambiguity in the investigation and the case as a whole The statement is not conclusive and ca... View the full answer
Related Book For
The Legal Environment of Business A Critical Thinking Approach
ISBN: 978-0132664844
6th Edition
Authors: Nancy K Kubasek, Bartley A Brennan, M Neil Browne
Posted Date:
Students also viewed these accounting questions
-
The 2015 Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks was a thrilling game that was decided in the final seconds. The relatively short duration of the game, however,...
-
What costs would the New England Patriots have considered when analyzing the purchase of team planes and when pricing the rental of its team planes? The New England Patriots recently became the first...
-
In 2007 the New England Patriots (an American football team) had a banner year winning all 16 regular season games. In these 16 games their points were: 38, 38, 38, 34, 34, 48, 49, 52, 24, 56, 31,...
-
Zanny Mouldings has the following estimated costs for the year ahead: Directly used materials $25,100 Direct labor costs $62,300 factory chief salary $37,800 Ad spend 34.000 $ Heating and lighting...
-
South Shore Construction builds permanent docks and seawalls along the southern shore of Long Island, New York. Although the firm has been in business only five years, revenue has increased from...
-
Read the article Why Big Data Is a Big Deal by Jonathan Shaw in the March-April 2014 Harvard Magazine. What does Shaw think is the revolution in big data? Which of the many big data applications that...
-
How might a witnesss statement be impeached?
-
The Always Fresh Grocery Store carries a particular brand of tea that has the following characteristics: Sales = 8 cases per week Ordering cost = $10 per order Carrying charge = 20 percent per year...
-
A manufacturer makes nutritional supplements in several processes. Packaging, the last department in the company's production process, reports following: Costs transferred to finished goods Units...
-
Problem 9 (50 Points) An air-cooled aluminum heat sink is used to keep electronics cool (see image and diagram). The cooling requirements are being significantly increased. To increase the rate of...
-
What is Globalization and is it good for America and the World? What about globalized operations?
-
A trader of an investment bank has sold a put option on the S&P 500 issued on 2021-04-01. Therefore, he must price and delta-hedge his short position in the put. The option has strike K = $3,000 and...
-
ABC corporation purchased a 100,000 asset two years ago with a residual value of 10,000 and useful life of 5 years. Currently, after two years of straight-line depreciation, the asset's book value is...
-
An asset has a standard deviation of 15% and a market correlation of 0. What is the value of beta?
-
Draw the Bode diagram of the given system. Find the values of wpc, 6M, Wgc, PM. Check the stability of the system. R(S) -> G(s). H(s) = G(s) H(s) y(s) 2,36 (s+1). (s+2) (S+3) Stat
-
The following stem-and-leaf plot represents the lengths, in centimeters, of a sample of 15 Petite Roses, where the leaf are decimals. The decimal point is at the 32 | 3335 33 | 00168 34 | 35 | 1789...
-
Stack-based Recursive Graphics Links in the screenshots are: Link 1- https://processing.org/examples/tree.html Link 2- https://processing.org/examples/recursion.html Link 3-...
-
Outline some of the major problems confronting an international advertiser.
-
Devo Dynamite is imploding a building. Despite taking every known safety precaution and imploding the building at a time when the least traffic is likely to be in the area, the implosion is not...
-
Explain relationships between primary and secondary boycotts.
-
What advice would you give to an employer that wants to adopt some form of employee participation program but is concerned about the legality of such programs?
-
Find the steady-state response of the hydraulic control valve shown in Fig. 4.4 (a) to the forcing functions obtained by replacing \(x(t)\) with \(F(t)\) and \(A\) with \(F_{0}\) in Figs. 1.114....
-
What is the basis for expressing the response of a system under periodic excitation as a summation of several harmonic responses?
-
True or False. The change in momentum is called impulse.
Study smarter with the SolutionInn App