Stephen Ross, the owner of the Miami Dolphins, has been fined and stripped of two draft picks by the National Football League after an investigation into alleged violations of league policies related to the integrity of the game.
The Dolphins will have to give up their third-round pick in 2020.
Ross won't be allowed to be at the Dolphins' facility or represent the team at any team events during his suspension. He cannot attend any league meetings before the annual meeting.
Bruce Beal was fined $500,000 and won't be allowed to attend any league meetings for the rest of the year.
In his lawsuit against the NFL and several teams, Brian Flores alleged that Ross offered him $100,000 to lose games in his first season with the club, as well as tampering with people under contract.
The Dolphins had "impermissible communications" with Brady when he was under contract with the New England Pats and again when he was under contract with the Buccaneers, according to the league.
The conversations with Brady in the next two years were conducted by the same person, and included the possibility of him playing for the team. Both Ross and Beal were involved in those discussions.
According to the league, the Dolphins had improper communications with Don Yee, the agent for the New Orleans Saints coach, about becoming Miami's head coach in January 2022. The league said that those discussions took place before he retired.
Roger Goodell said that the investigators found tampering violations that were unprecedented. There have been no previous instances of a team violating the prohibition on tampering with both a head coach and star player over a period of years. I don't know of any previous instance in which ownership was involved in the violations.
The league said that Ross' comment about offering money to lose a game was not intended or taken to be a serious offer.
The clubs are expected to make a good faith effort to win the games. Public confidence in professional football requires no less. The risk that a comment will be taken seriously and acted upon must be understood by the owner or senior executive. Comments suggesting that draft position is more important than winning can be misinterpreted and carry with them an unnecessary risk to the integrity of the game. The comments made by Mr. Ross did not affect the determination of the Dolphins to win. The relative importance was not allowed to be commented on by coach Flores.
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