(Updated 1:33 p.m.)
NEW YORK – The National Football League was found to have acted within its authority in benching New England’s star quarterback Tom Brady for four games for allegedly using underinflated footballs in a playoff game.
A federal appeals court in New York on Monday overturned a lower-court ruling that said Brady wasn’t treated fairly and courts had no business deciding whether the quarterback knew that team personnel let air out of game balls in what’s come to be known as “Deflategate.”
“Our review of the record yields the firm conclusion that the commissioner properly exercised his broad discretion to resolve an intramural controversy between the league and a player,” U.S. Circuit Judge Barrington Parker wrote in a 2-1 opinion Monday.
A league investigation found that Brady probably knew team staff deflated game balls below the minimum allowed before the Patriots 45-7 win over the Indianapolis Colts in a January 2015 conference championship game. Brady also destroyed a mobile phone, obstructing the league’s investigation, the NFL claimed.