re: Does anybody here know the actual legal issue(s) in the Tom Brady court case?

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Various -gate players probably had no idea what they were doing (or not doing) was a Goodell-hammerable offense. This is explained well by Paul Tagliabue in his order vacating the Bountygate punishments.

“In this context, confronted with the events here [Bounty allegations and obstruction], Commissioner Goodell correctly set out aggressively to address them. But when an effort to change a culture rests heavily on prohibitions, and discipline and sanctions that are seen as selective, ad hoc or inconsistent, then people in all industries are prone to react negatively — whether they be construction workers, police officers or football players. They will push back and challenge the discipline as unwarranted. As reflected in the record in the present appeals, they will deny, hide behind a code of silence, destroy evidence and obstruct. In other words, rightly or wrongly, a sharp change in sanctions or discipline can often be seen as arbitrary and as an impediment rather than an instrument of change.”

Bountygate was similar to this one in that Goodell tried to do various suspensions of players of various lengths without really any principled reasoning as far as pretty much anyone could figure out. (As an aside, I’m pretty sure the players did not agree with the entirety of the Tagliabue factual record, but they agreed with the result.)

But re-read that quote from Tagliabue. He was warning Goodell. Different controversies will keep happening because Goodell’s punishments are very reactive and unnecessarily confrontational. They beg for legal problems. That’s no way to run a business.

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