Atlanta Falcons fans have been sweating out their impending league punishment ever since Arthur Blank admitted that the Falcons piped in artificial crowd noise during games. Rumors had the Falcons potentially losing a top draft pick in this years draft.
Here’s the statement from Troy Vincent on the Falcons punishment…
The Atlanta Falcons have acknowledged the use of pre-recorded crowd noise in violation of NFL rules during home games throughout the 2013 season and into the 2014 season until the club was notified last November that the violation had been identified. The rule states that “at no point during the game can artificial crowd noise or amplified crowd noise be played in the stadium.” Based on the full record, the Falcons have been fined $350,000 and will forfeit their fifth-round selection in the 2016 Draft. If the Falcons have multiple picks in that round, the highest selection will be forfeited.
Our review concluded that Roddy White, the team’s former director of event marketing, was directly responsible for the violation. Mr. White would have been suspended without pay for the first eight weeks of the 2015 regular season had he still been with the club. If Mr. White obtains employment with another NFL team during the 2015 season, he may be required to serve some or all of this suspension.
Our review also determined that Falcons ownership and senior executives, including team President Rich McKay, were unaware of Mr. White’s use of an audio file with artificial crowd noise. However, Mr. McKay, as the senior club executive overseeing game operations, bears some responsibility for ensuring that team employees comply with league rules. As a result, Mr. McKay will be suspended from the Competition Committee beginning April 1. He may petition Commissioner Goodell for reinstatement to the committee no sooner than June 30.
If you are an Atlanta Falcons fan you are breathing a sigh of relief.
The Falcons will lose a draft pick but it will be a fifth rounder and it won’t be until next season. That will give new head coach Dan Quinn the opportunity to make full use of all of his draft picks this season as the team has quite a few holes to fill and they need to build quality depth all around the board. There were rumors that the Falcons would perhaps lose a first or second round pick so the fact that they lost a fifth round pick has to come as a positive. Plus, if you look at the Falcons recent history with fifth round picks….it isn’t good.
Next, Roddy White is suspended for eight weeks??? Holy Crap!!!!
Oh wait a minute, there was a front office Roddy White and a player named Roddy White? Phew! So the Falcons dodged a bullet on that one.
Finally, Rich McKay is suspended from the Competition Committee and Arthur Blank is fined $350,000. To the average fan, both of those things mean nothing. To McKay, it’s a hit to his pride but he’s just a suit for the Falcons that has no impact on what happens on the field. For Arthur, it’s another lesson learned from the NFL.
All in all, if you are an Atlanta Falcons fan you have to be satisfied with the outcome of this investigation. The organization admitted to a wrong doing and was punished but the punishment wasn’t excessive and it won’t damage Dan Quinn’s team in the short term or the long term.
One thing that will be interesting to watch is the Falcons “Dome Field Advantage”. Even though the Falcons fell off the board the last few years, they had bragged about their home record with Matt Ryan having a career record of 39-15 at home and just 27-29 on the road. Without additional crowd noise being piped in will the Falcons be as good at home as they were just a few years ago?
