The New England Patriots will have to start the defence of their Super Bowl title without star quarter-back Tom Brady.
The NFL have announced that they have upheld the four-match ban that had been given to Brady for his part in the so called 'deflategate' scandal, which saw some members of the Patriots support staff deliberately deflate the match balls used during their play-off win over the Indianapolis Colts.
In a statement, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says that he has opted not to reduce the punishment after claiming that Brady had deliberately destroyed his mobile phone to hide evidence.
The statement reads: "In the opinion informing Brady that his appeal had been denied, Commissioner Goodell emphasized important new information disclosed by Brady and his representatives in connection with the hearing.
The Boston Globe's Kevin Cullen gave his immediate reaction to the news on Off The Ball tonight, as well as talking about the reason the city of Boston has made a U-turn on the 2024 Olympic bid:
"On or shortly before March 6, the day that Tom Brady met with independent investigator Ted Wells and his colleagues, Brady directed that the cell phone he had used for the prior four months be destroyed. He did so even though he was aware that the investigators had requested access to text messages and other electronic information that had been stored on that phone. During the four months that the cell phone was in use, Brady had exchanged nearly 10,000 text messages, none of which can now be retrieved from that device. The destruction of the cell phone was not disclosed until June 18, almost four months after the investigators had first sought electronic information from Brady.
"Based on the Wells Report and the evidence presented at the hearing, Commissioner Goodell concluded in his decision that Brady was aware of, and took steps to support, the actions of other team employees to deflate game footballs below the levels called for by the NFL’s Official Playing Rules. The commissioner found that Brady’s deliberate destruction of potentially relevant evidence went beyond a mere failure to cooperate in the investigation and supported a finding that he had sought to hide evidence of his own participation in the underlying scheme to alter the footballs."
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