NFL Ruling On Patriots' "Deflategate" Could Come Down Today

An NFL ruling on "Deflategate" could come as soon as today, "possibly bringing massive fines and the loss of a high draft pick" for the Patriots. Coach Bill Belichick will meet with the media at 9:30am ET as the team "prepares to leave for Phoenix with hopes of putting the growing scandal behind it before Super Bowl XLIX." League management is "believed to be as eager as the Patriots to prevent a scandal from tainting its showcase event" (BOSTON HERALD, 1/22).

Steelers President Art Rooney II is the first top team exec to publicly address it, saying, "I wouldn’t put it on a scale of serious." But he added, "If it’s in fact true it’s a violation of league rules that I’m sure the league office will deal with it in an appropriate way" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 1/22). Is NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell “willing to throw the book at a team owned by his biggest, most vocal advocate?" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/22).

Meanwhile, mainstream media and the tabloids are all over “DeflateGate.” ABC’s “World News” and NBC’s “Nightly News” both aired reports on it in the first eight minutes of their broadcasts; CBS’ “Evening News” did so 18 minutes in. ABC’s “GMA” teased it in their intro today with the headline “Super Bowl Scandal” and led the broadcast with a taped report. "CBS This Morning" teased the scandal in its opening moments and made it the second report of the broadcast, while NBC’s “Today” aired it as the third report of its broadcast. Other news shows covering the controversy included ABC’s “Nightline,” and PBS’ “NewsHour.” MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes” led with it during the 8:00pm ET slot. The N.Y. tabs are having a field day – see Back Pages below (THE DAILY).

ABC's Jimmy Kimmel discussed the scandal and enlisted the help of Dr. Drew Pinsky, who is someone that "knows a lot about this sort of thing" ("Jimmy Kimmel Live," ABC, 1/21).