OT: Congress decides to investigate NFL Bountygate

Submitted by wolverine1987 on

The Senate, led by Senator Dick Durbin, has decided to open an investigation of the recent New Orleans Saint bounties in order to determine "whether these activities should become federal crimes in the future."

http://news.yahoo.com/senator-calls-hearing-examine-bounties-nfl-181723…

[ED:BISB - No way this doesn't get political. Interesting news, but I'm not spending all evening  deleting political comments and "NO POLITICS" comments.]

enlightenedbum

March 22nd, 2012 at 5:57 PM ^

The Saints were punished by the NFL for lying to the NFL more than the actual program.  Which I suspect is fairly common.  And Congress has been interfering in sports for a long time, MLB has a special anti-trust exemption and has for almost a century, as an example.

go16blue

March 22nd, 2012 at 5:58 PM ^

Meh, I'm normally against the government getting involved with sports, but what happened with bountygate could very well be qualified as assault. The NFL could probably handle this on its own, but I don't think congress is exactly overstepping its bounds here like it has in the past.

JClay

March 22nd, 2012 at 5:58 PM ^

If I paid a subordinate to go intentionally injure a business competitor to the extent they were unable to preform their duties, with the intent of giving my organization an easier path to success, I'd be prosecuted in every state in the country. There should be serious debate into whether or not law enforcement should get involved.

Of course "serious debate" precludes Congress from getting involved.

justingoblue

March 22nd, 2012 at 6:10 PM ^

They would be better off handing this off to the FBI or some type of special prosecutor. The Saints probably broke more than a couple federal laws, but Congressional hearings are a huge circus, without exception. I don't think this is a big enough story to warrant the mess this will turn into.

Lionsfan

March 22nd, 2012 at 6:11 PM ^

Not surprising, given that the NFL is being sued or something like that by former players, it was only a matter of time before the government butted in