The NFL is currently investigating whether the Atlanta Falcons piped artificial crowd noise into their stadium during home games. Apparently owner Arthur Blank has seen enough to know his team broke the rules.
After introducing new head coach Dan Quinn on Tuesday, Blank said he believes what his team did this past season and in 2013 was “wrong.”
“It’s not really a fine line,” Blank told The Associated Press. “I think what we’ve done in 2013 and 2014 was wrong. Anything that affects the competitive balance and fairness on the field, we’re opposed to, as a league, as a club and as an owner. It’s obviously embarrassing but beyond embarrassing it doesn’t represent our culture and what we’re about.”
Blank said he expects the NFL to reveal its findings in two or three weeks, but he wasn’t exactly taking the same stance Robert Kraft took when the New England Patriots were accused of deflating footballs. Blank basically admitted his team is guilty.
“We certainly support the integrity of the league, the integrity of fair competition and the integrity of the shield,” he added. “We are not happy about it.”
“We’ve got some information internally. Not all, clearly, until we see the full report. But we’ve dealt with it internally the best we can, which was limited because we haven’t seen the report.”
The Falcons could be facing a fine or the loss of a draft pick. It is unclear how the league became aware that they were allegedly producing fake crowd noise.
This is a perfect example of cheating and gamesmanship mattering more when you win. The Falcons are not the first team to be accused of piping artificial noise into their enclosed stadium, but imagine if the Patriots were investigated for this? There would be complete and utter outrage.
