The NFL "is returning more than $700,000 of taxpayers' money that was paid to teams for sponsored military tributes" after being criticized for "paid patriotism,'" according to Darren Rovell of ESPN.com. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that the league "would pay that money back." In a letter written to U.S. Sens Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), Goodell said that teams "were deemed to have received $723,734 for acts of sponsored patriotism." He also wrote that marketing activities "would be audited more frequently to catch such activities in the future" (ESPN.com, 5/19).
OFF THE TABLE: In Baltimore, Jeff Zrebiec writes instead of "trying to gain more support" for their instant replay proposal at next week’s league meetings, the Ravens have "withdrawn it." The plan, which the Ravens had modified in recent weeks, garnered "plenty of support around the league." However, it "still faced opposition from a few significant NFL officials and competition committee members." Under the proposal, only "eight potential penalties, including offense and defensive holding and offensive and defensive pass interference, would not have been reviewable" (Baltimore SUN, 5/20).
DATA CRUNCH: In N.Y., Seth Walder cites sources as saying that the NFL "recently delivered data collected by Zebra Technologies’ radio-frequency identification (RFID) system over the course of last season to teams." Every player "had chips placed in their shoulder pads to track their location during games." Sources said teams "only received data for their own players." The data collected "should include every player’s location, speed and distance traveled at virtually every moment of a play" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/20).
