On Monday the NFL announced that the Atlanta Falcons have been fined $350,000 and will suffer the loss of a fifth round draft pick in 2016 for artificially pumping crowd noise during home games at the Georgia Dome throughout the past two seasons.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank aligned himself fully with the decision of the NFL, as he articulates in an official statement, “What took place was wrong and nowhere near the standards by which we run our business. Anytime there are actions that compromise the integrity of the NFL or threaten the culture of our franchise, as this issue did, they will be dealt with swiftly and strongly.” The league notified the Falcons that a violation had been identified in November and cited that the team’s former Director of Marketing, Roddy White (not that Roddy White), was at fault for the violation. Team President and Competition Committee chairman, Rich McKay, will bear the collateral consequence for White’s actions and will be suspended three months from his post at the Competition Committee beginning today, April 1st.
The Falcon’s punishment comes step-in-step with what the NFL has pronounced in similar team violation situations. Following the precedent set by the Patriots and Saints—and more recently, Browns—in their respective offenses, the league proceeds to target draft picks, impose fines up to $500,000, and suspend responsible or culpable parties. Still, the Falcons get off relatively easy likely due to the absence of the prime violator in Roddy White and the questionable advantage the manufactured crowd noise played (only 6 home wins in two seasons). If anything, the recent injunctions will have NFL management teams minding their P’s and Q’s no matter how small the devil in the details.
