Sports

'I Know Fraud Occurred,' Says Lawyer Suing NFL

First rule of cover-up club: don't leave hundreds of witnesses.

By  
on

NFL FootballIt would be one thing if the NFL called off the first of its 64 utterly meaningless preseason matches a few days in advance. Especially that game, the annual Hall of Fame game played in Ohio, requiring fans of the two teams involved to make travel arrangements to watch their fourth-stringers flop around in pre-CTE glory. But the NFL waited until fans were already in the stands, buying food and merchandise, before they canceled the game at the last minute.

With Colts punter Pat McAfee reporting that the league and the Hall of Fame told all the players that the game was canceled well in advance, but then ordered them to keep the fact a secret. While fans streamed into the stadium and started buying stuff, the NFL conveyed every impression that they intended to go forward with a game that night. It’s shocking to think the NFL would cover up known facts just to milk every last penny out of a bad situation — cough — but those are the allegations.

Lawyer Michael Avenatti has filed a putative class action on behalf of the fans forced to voluntarily spend time in Ohio, and he’s champing at the bit over these reports of a deliberate cover-up:

“Well, I don’t believe fraud occurred, I know fraud occurred,” Avenatti said, “because people are coming out of the woodwork now and providing us with facts and evidence that shows no question that fraud occurred on behalf of the league and the Hall of Fame. The reason why we know that now is because, for instance, Pat McAfee on the morning after the game gave a podcast during which he described exactly what he witnessed in connection with the cancellation of the game… The league and the Hall of Fame informed the players, ninety players to the Packers and ninety players for the Colts, at least an hour and a half before they told the fans that the game was cancelled. Then to make matters worse they told those same individuals not to say anything about it, to tweet about it, et cetera. They clearly tried to cover this up and keep it from the fans in the interest of money.”

Cover-up allegations aside, the complaint paints a dim portrait of buffoonery that went into preparing the game field:

Hours before the game was to start, the grounds crew, under the direction and supervision of Defendants, applied paint for the midfield logo and endzone lettering onto the field. When the grounds crew determined the paint was not drying quickly enough, they heated the field to try to speed up the process. Instead of rectifying the problem, this resulted in the melting of the rubber pellets that comprise the FieldTurf, creating a slick, sticky, and congealed mess.

Approximately 2.5 hours before the game, the stadium workers applied a substance to remedy the problems with the field. However, the Green Bay Packers employee noticed the substance’s label warned of burns upon skin contact.

… ten minutes later, stadium workers littered the field with tire damage spikes in an effort to improve traction until a Colts employee was impaled, screaming “I AM READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!!” in his death throes. Seriously, what Klown Kar full of stadium employees are running around throwing acid on the field?

Sponsored

The NFL has already declined a settlement offer to pay every customer $450 for their time and trouble, bringing us one step closer to what could be an illuminating discovery process for those of us who suspect the NFL holds its players and fans in roughly the same regard as a cholera outbreak.

(Full complaint available on the next page.)

The NFL Is Getting Sued Over The Hall Of Fame Game Fiasco [Deadspin]
HOF Game lawyer: “I know fraud occurred” [Pro Football Talk]

Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

Sponsored

1 2Next »

Topics

, , , ,