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La. State Police, FBI Now Investigating Saints' Alleged Superdome Phonetapping

Louisiana state troopers have now "joined the FBI in an investigation into allegations” that Saints GM Mickey Loomis had his Superdome booth rewired so he could listen to opposing coaches, according to James Varney of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. Saints officials, in response to the allegations from an ESPN report, said that they “regard the story as so scurrilous that legal responses were being considered by the principals, but there did not appear to be any movement on that front Tuesday, and officials offered no answer to a question about lawsuits.” Varney writes the scandal now surrounding Loomis is “just one of those with which the team must cope on the eve” of the NFL Draft. Meanwhile, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell yesterday said that the punishments for players involved in the team’s bounty scandal “are coming ‘soon,’ and hinted they may be severe” (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 4/25). ESPN.com’s Jeffri Chadiha wrote it is “hard enough to imagine" any NFL owner accepting what happened in the bounty scandal, especially because Saints Owner Tom Benson "looked both disconnected from his team and easily dismissed by his subordinates.” But two “highly public controversies surrounding your executive vice president in less than two months?” Chadiha: “It would be best if Benson started thinking about new candidates for the most powerful position in his organization” (ESPN.com, 4/24).

NOT A GOOD LOOK: ESPN’s Michael Smith said the eavesdropping allegations “paint the Saints as this rogue organization.” When combined with the bounty scandal, this is “just not good for their image or the image of the NFL” ("Numbers Never Lie," ESPN2, 4/24). ESPN's Dan Le Batard said, “The problem with the denials, strong though they are coming from the Saints, is they’re coming from people who are banned from the league for lying” (“Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable,” ESPN2, 4/24). ESPN’s Michelle Beadle said for the “next couple of generations of football fans that are playing ... this is going to be the punchline for quite some time.” ESPN's Colin Cowherd said, “In my heart, I like the Saints, but now all this stuff -- there’s a kind of a skeevy feel to it.” However, Cowherd said the Saints brand is not “permanently tarnished” and in the “world of social media and blogs and ESPN and all the media and sports radio, there’s another controversy virtually every day” ("SportsNation," ESPN2, 4/24). ESPN’s Marcellus Wiley said “it’s perfect timing to go out there and stop the bleeding” and sign QB Drew Brees to a contract extension (“NFL Live,” ESPN, 4/24).

BURDEN OF PROOF
: PRO FOOTBALL TALK’s Mike Florio noted the ESPN report against Loomis “comes several months after the media giant clumsily compensated for its failure to contribute anything meaningful to the Penn State scandal by stirring up a mess at Syracuse that, to date, has failed to stick.” ESPN and “its army of reporters also whiffed on the Saints’ bounty scandal.” Florio wrote ESPN has “an obligation to do more than drop on the audience the notion that Loomis had the ability to monitor conversations among opposing coaches.” The network “needs to explain how that information turned into a tangible strategic edge for the Saints.” Still, that is “not to say the league should ignore the situation,” as the “NFL, or someone, needs to investigate” (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 4/24).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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