The NFL and former New England Patriots employee Matt Walsh have finally agreed on a deal where Walsh will return all of the items by May 8, namely videotapes, that he kept from his employment with the Patriots. He will also meet with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on May 13, 2008, to discuss the Pats’ videotaping procedures. In return, the NFL and the Patriots have agreed not to sue Mr. Walsh and the NFL will indemnify him of any expenses, legal or otherwise, that he incurs as part of the interview process. Rather than speculate, I’m simply going to wait and see what is contained on the tapes and also what the interview with Goodell yields. Keep in mind that the Patriots, as you can read in their statement, have said that they never authorized the videotaping of the Rams’ walk-through practice before the Superbowl in 2002. That walk-through taping is what has been the lightning rod behind this whole matter. Whether this tape exists or not, we shall soon see, but the Pats have already denied any knowledge or authorization of such a tape. How the NFL handles this, should it exist, will be interesting to follow as we enter some “down time” after the NFL Draft. Below you can read statements from the NFL, Walsh’s attorney, and the New England Patriots. Again, I will reserve judgement until we find out exactly what Walsh has.
The NFL released the following statement:
“An agreement has been completed between the NFL and Matt Walsh that will allow Mr. Walsh, a former videotape operator with the New England Patriots, to share with the NFL information about activities occurring during his employment with the club from 1997-2003.
Commissioner Goodell will meet with Mr. Walsh in the commissioner
[...] Mark Maske’s NFL Insider wrote an interesting post today on Last piece of SpyGate puzzle: Walsh and NFL agree to meetHere’s a quick excerptThe NFL and former New England Patriots employee Matt Walsh have finally agreed on a deal where Walsh will return all of the items by May 8, namely [...]