The Atlanta Falcons will lose their fifth-round draft pick on top of being fined $350,000 by the NFL for pumping artificial crowd noise into the Georgia Dome during home games in 2013 and 2014.
The NFL has also suspended Falcon’s president Rich McKay from his position as the chairman of the leagues competition committee.
The investigation started in November of 2013 and the NFL concluded that the team’s former event marketing director used an audio file to turn up the noise in convenient situations. The marketing directors name: Roddy White, completely unrelated to the one you’re thinking of. I don’t get it either. But that’s what I call ‘White Noise’. AMIRIGHT? Cue the deafening laugh track, Roddy.
Troy Vincent, NFL executive vice president, said in a statement Monday:
“Our review also determined that Falcons ownership and senior executives, including team President Rich McKay, were unaware of Mr. White’s use of an audio file with artificial crowd noise. However, Mr. McKay, as the senior club executive overseeing game operations, bears some responsibility for ensuring that team employees comply with league rules.”
Falcon’s owner Arthur Blank stated that he will not fight the league’s ruling:
“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. Further, we have addressed the matter internally and taken actions to ensure that something like this does not happen again. The Falcons and all of our other businesses are built upon a foundation of values that drive our decision making. This issue was a clear failure in that regard. I apologize for any embarrassment this situation has caused the NFL, our fans, and our Falcons players and associates.”
The real embarrassment here is going 3-5 at home in both seasons you were cheating, Arthur.
Via USA Today