why does congress want to look into"spygate"?

[redskinsfanatic]

i think arlen"father of the single bullett theory"specter is either just grandstanding,or looking at more ways to piss away taxpayer time and money on something that the government has no business messing around in.most of you guys live in dc or have been around it a lot.why the hell does aybody want to look into this anyhow?what intrest does the us government have in this???

[onlydarksets]

Professional sports are granted monopoly exemptions by Congress. That is, many of their practices are legal only because Congress has given them special permission to do so.

Congress does this with the understanding that it is a necessary evil and that it won't be abused. If cheating is occurring that the NFL is aware of, but the NFL is turning a blind eye in order to protect its monopoly, Congress has an interest in that.

[Veretax]

Originally Posted by onlydarksets

Professional sports are granted monopoly exemptions by Congress. That is, many of their practices are legal only because Congress has given them special permission to do so.

Congress does this with the understanding that it is a necessary evil and that it won't be abused. If cheating is occurring that the NFL is aware of, but the NFL is turning a blind eye in order to protect its monopoly, Congress has an interest in that.

This is correct and also if it seemed that the NFL was "fixing games" somehow or scripting them, then they'd no longer be a sport in my mind, and that would upset millions of voters. IT makes sense to look into it, I doubt they find anything though.

[Oakland Red]

Specter: Belichick Was Taping Since 2000 - The Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — Bill Belichick has been illegally taping opponents' defensive signals since he became the New England Patriots' coach in 2000, according to Sen. Arlen Specter, who said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told him that during a meeting Wednesday.



"There was confirmation that there has been taping since 2000, when Coach Belichick took over," Specter said.


Specter said Goodell gave him that information during the 1-hour, 40-minute meeting, which was requested by Specter so the commissioner could explain his reasons for destroying the Spygate tapes and notes.


"There were a great many questions answered by Commissioner Goodell," Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters after the meeting. "I found a lot of questions unanswerable because of the tapes and notes had been destroyed."......



......."Still, Specter wants to know why penalties were imposed on Belichick before the full extent of the wrongdoing was known and the tapes destroyed in a two-week span. Asked if he thinks there was a coverup, Specter demurred.


'There was an enormous amount of haste,' Specter said."

[djnemo65]

It's because he's an Eagles fan and he still hasn't gotten over the 05 Superbowl. That's seriously the only reason.

[Stuck in TX]

Originally Posted by djnemo65

It's because he's an Eagles fan and he still hasn't gotten over the 05 Superbowl. That's seriously the only reason.

PROVE IT!!!!! I think this is a great thing for congress to do. IMO if congress doesnt step up and do this then if the patriots did cheat all those years who would have known? As a fan of the NFL it makes me pretty upset to know that a team had an advantage over my team. If the Pats are inocent then they wont mind testifying.

[skinsfan69]

Originally Posted by redskinsfanatic

i think arlen"father of the single bullett theory"specter is either just grandstanding,or looking at more ways to piss away taxpayer time and money on something that the government has no business messing around in.most of you guys live in dc or have been around it a lot.why the hell does aybody want to look into this anyhow?what intrest does the us government have in this???

cause they have nothing better to do.

[He Hate Me]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

cause they have nothing better to do.

Wrong! It's a billon dollar industry that is suppose to be legit. Do you like paying $80 bucks a least per ticket to see something that is fake? This isn't wrestling...

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by He Hate Me

Wrong! It's a billon dollar industry that is suppose to be legit. Do you like paying $80 bucks a least per ticket to see something that is fake? This isn't wrestling...

Ok so they find out that the Pats did cheat. What can they do?

[He Hate Me]

Originally Posted by firstdown

Ok so they find out that the Pats did cheat. What can they do?

They can do a number of things... take away the super bowl trophy, take away more draft picks, financial repercussions... who knows, but I don't think that the league can have something that MLB is going through happen to them without a fall out from the fans... or atleast I hope some fal out from the fans.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by He Hate Me

They can do a number of things... take away the super bowl trophy, take away more draft picks, financial repercussions... who knows, but I don't think that the league can have something that MLB is going through happen to them without a fall out from the fans... or atleast I hope some fal out from the fans.

Steriods are illegal but I'm not sure if breaking a rule of the NFL is considered illegale by law. My question was not what the NFL could do to the Pats but what congress could do to the pats. I don't think they broke the law only NFL rules which the NFL is responsable for not congress.

[amorentz]

The US government actually has a tremendous interest in this -- the NFL is granted an exemption from antitrust laws by Congress, and so for all intents and purposes the NFL as we know it operates only at the pleasure of the Congress. This exemption allows the NFL to negotiate game packages (ie NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV) that other regulated entities would never be allowed to negotiate, as well as set the standards for participation in the league (Maurice Clarett and Mike Williams come to mind -- I promise you the UA Pipefitters union can't place non-collectively bargained age limits on its workers).

Exemption from these laws is pretty much acts as a multi-billion dollar subsidy to the league by the US government. As a result, Congress has long asserted its right to monitor the sports leagues to ensure that they are being run fairly and for the benefit of the American public (see: baseball steroid hearings). This is also not the first time in recent memory that Arlen Specter has threatened the NFL's exemption; around a year ago he made the same threats based on the limited availability of the DrecTV Sunday Ticket package.

While in general I think Congress probably has "better" things to worry about, they really do have a pretty large interest in the way the NFL is operated. After all, if I was giving you special permission to run a sports league for free in my backyard, isn't in my interest (and within my authority) to make sure you're running it fairly?

[redwagonskins]

Originally Posted by amorentz

The US government actually has a tremendous interest in this -- the NFL is granted an exemption from antitrust laws by Congress, and so for all intents and purposes the NFL as we know it operates only at the pleasure of the Congress. This exemption allows the NFL to negotiate game packages (ie NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV) that other regulated entities would never be allowed to negotiate, as well as set the standards for participation in the league (Maurice Clarett and Mike Williams come to mind -- I promise you the UA Pipefitters union can't place non-collectively bargained age limits on its workers).

Exemption from these laws is pretty much acts as a multi-billion dollar subsidy to the league by the US government. As a result, Congress has long asserted its right to monitor the sports leagues to ensure that they are being run fairly and for the benefit of the American public (see: baseball steroid hearings). This is also not the first time in recent memory that Arlen Specter has threatened the NFL's exemption; around a year ago he made the same threats based on the limited availability of the DrecTV Sunday Ticket package.

While in general I think Congress probably has "better" things to worry about, they really do have a pretty large interest in the way the NFL is operated. After all, if I was giving you special permission to run a sports league for free in my backyard, isn't in my interest (and within my authority) to make sure you're running it fairly?

Additionally, if the league is indeed hiding more information regarding "Spygate" then it is perpetrating fraud on the public. Because the government gives the NFL an antitrust exemption, it is their duty to enforce anti-fraud provisions. Otherwise, what we end up with is subsidized professional wrestling.

As an aside, one of the funny things about this site is that someone can post a great response such as the one quoted above that essentially answers the question in a logical manner, and a couple of responses latter we'll get the "because Congress is dumb" or "Congress has nothing better to do" arguments. While both statements may have a basis in reality, amorentz has pretty much hit the nail on the head here.

[rypper11]

Originally Posted by redwagonskins

Additionally, if the league is indeed hiding more information regarding "Spygate" then it is perpetrating fraud on the public. Because the government gives the NFL an antitrust exemption, it is their duty to enforce anti-fraud provisions. Otherwise, what we end up with is subsidized professional wrestling.

As an aside, one of the funny things about this site is that someone can post a great response such as the one quoted above that essentially answers the question in a logical manner, and a couple of responses latter we'll get the "because Congress is dumb" or "Congress has nothing better to do" arguments. While both statements may have a basis in reality, amorentz has pretty much hit the nail on the head here.

Good points, and sorry for piling on. I was writing my post when yours went up.

[redwagonskins]

Originally Posted by rypper11

Good points, and sorry for piling on. I was writing my post when yours went up.

No worries. I think you have a very valid and cogent argument. What I think is funny is that in the face of the law and the facts of this matter, people think Congress has no duty to get involved. Well in that case, let the NFL give up their limited exemption and then Congress won't have a say. Until then, Congress is going to stick their nose in whenever there is a possible violation of their limited antitrust exemption (in the case of steroids or cheating).