NEW YORK (AP) – New England quarterback Tom Brady and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell are set to explain to a judge why a controversy over underinflated footballs at last season’s AFC conference championship game is spilling into a new season.
U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman ordered the men to appear before him Wednesday at an initial hearing in Manhattan after the NFL sued the players union two weeks ago.
The league asked the judge to declare that it followed its players’ contract properly when it punished Brady after Goodell concluded he “knew about, approved of, consented to, and provided inducements and rewards” to support a scheme in which a Patriots’ employee deflated balls on game day. Brady insists he knew nothing about it.
On Tuesday, Berman asked Goodell and Brady, along with lawyers, to appear before him privately a half hour before a public court session. He said he wants to learn the status of negotiations. He also asked them to continue negotiating prior to the hearing. Brady was not at Patriots practice.
At a news conference in Illinois, Goodell said the league plans to cooperate fully with Berman.