It’s always just one thing after another with the never-ending disaster that is the NFL. America’s largest sports league has so many ongoing problems that it is genuinely hard to keep track of – from domestic violence issues to cheating scandals – you name it and they’re probably embroiled in it right now.
Every single week something brand-new comes up that is layered on top of their already existing problems.
And now they have something new to deal with, which is why they’re going to have to fight this lawsuit in federal court.
Championship Sunday was enthralling. The AFC and NFC championships both went into overtime and it was the first time that happened in NFL history.
But the main controversy that weekend was over a blown call in the matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and the New Orleans Saints. The Saints were in the great position to win the game if the refs called an obvious defense of pass interference.
Los Angeles Rams’ Nickell Robey-Coleman not only made an obvious pass interference against a Saints receiver that the refs blindly missed but he also connected helmet-to-helmet – a personal foul.
If the refs called either one of those penalties then all the Saints had to do was kick a really short field goal to end the game. Unfortunately for the Saints, it didn’t work out like that. The game went into overtime. Drew Brees threw an interception. And then Rams quarterback Jared Goff marched down the field and won the game.
The game should’ve been over before any of that happened and almost everybody believes the Saints got robbed of a trip to this upcoming Super Bowl.
That’s why to Saints season ticket holders, Tommy Badeaux and Candis Lambert, filed a lawsuit in state court in New Orleans that has been moved to federal court.
This is also a class action lawsuit, which also means that the Saints ticket holders – and other fans in attendance – could receive millions of dollars in damages for monetary funds spent and for apparent “emotional” distress over the outcome.
One good thing that the Saints ticket holders have on their side is that coach Sean Payton revealed after the game that the NFL’s League office contacted them to say that it was a blown call. So, in other words, the NFL already admitted that they were at fault.
The bad news is there will be no redo of the NFC championship game. It’s too late. The best that they can hope for is monetary compensation for their troubles.
After all, the Super Bowl is only five days away.
To top it off, that wasn’t the only controversy the NFL actively tried to avoid during this NFC Championship game.
A new report revealed this week that all four NFL referees on the field reside in southern California, which just so happens to be in the same vicinity as the Los Angeles Rams.
And with a league that claims to be so concerned with optics, this was a really bad look. One has to wonder whether they knew and didn’t care or even worse they didn’t know about it all.
That’s a double-edged sword that sends two messages; one being that they’re so disorganized it fell through the cracks or they’re so lethargic that they are apathetic towards any perceived biasness.