NFL Punishes Miami Dolphins And Billionaire Owner Stephen Ross For Tampering

Topline

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced Tuesday that the league has stripped the Miami Dolphins of two draft picks and suspended the team’s billionaire owner Stephen Ross after a six-month investigation found the team had engaged in tampering of “unprecedented scope and severity,” Goodell said, which included two of the biggest names in football, quarterback Tom Brady and coach Sean Payton.

Key Facts

The Dolphins will forfeit a first-round selection in next year’s draft and a third-round pick in the 2024 draft, the league said.

Ross has been slapped with a $1.5 million fine and suspended through October 17, meaning he is not permitted to be present at the Dolphins’ facility or represent the team at any official Dolphins or NFL event till that time, the league said.

He was also pulled from league committees indefinitely and is not permitted to attend any NFL meetings until March 2023.

Ross “strongly disagrees” with the investigation’s conclusion and his punishment, he said in a statement Tuesday, but said he will accept it because “the most important thing is that there will be no distractions for our team.”

The Dolphins were cleared of intentionally losing games to improve the team’s chances in the 2020 draft.

Key Background

The NFL’s investigation, which was spearheaded by former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, found the Dolphins had “impermissible communications” with Brady about the star quarterback becoming an executive and limited partner in the Dolphins and even playing for the team. The communications took place between 2019 and 2020, when Brady was still playing with the New England Patriots, and continued into after the 2021 season while he was under contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the NFL said. The investigation found that the Dolphins also engaged in inappropriate communication as recently as January with Don Yee, the agent for New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, about Payton becoming the Dolphins’ head coach without asking for permission from the Saints. The discussions took place before Payton announced he would retire from New Orleans, according to the NFL, and after, when the Dolphins asked permission to speak to Payton, the Saints declined the request.

Forbes Valuation

We estimate Ross to be worth $8.2 billion.

Tangent

In February, former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL, the Dolphins and several other teams, alleging Ross offered him $100,000 for every loss in the 2019 season. White concluded that it “was not intended or taken to be a serious offer.” Flores also alleged Ross pressured him to recruit a “prominent quarterback.” When Flores says he refused to violate the league’s tampering rules, he said he was “treated with disdain and held out as someone who was noncompliant and difficult to work with.” In a statement Tuesday, Flores said Ross’ pressure to tank games was minimized by the investigation’s findings, and said Ross will “avoid any meaningful consequence” for his infractions. “When the integrity of the game is called into question, fans suffer, and football suffers,” Flores said.