Famous Football Scandals

Football is a game filled with a lot of sports scandals.  In fact, the biggest professional sports scandals in recent decades always seem to hit NFL players.  From dog fighting to sexual indecency, professional and NCAA football has it all.  Here are five of the biggest sports scandals.


Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Incident

The Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Incident is the most recent professional sports scandal in the NFL that involved two superstar celebrities "accidentally" baring a nipple in the halftime show of the country's most watched sporting event.  The scandal was famously referenced as the Nipplegate, when Janet Jackson's nipple was exposed by Justin Timberlake during the finale of their live performance.  Timberlake and Jackson later blamed wardrobe malfunction as the culprit of the breast exposure.

Many Americans, mostly parents, were enraged at the "display of indecency" in what is supposed to be a family-oriented program.  This sports scandal led to various inquiries and opinions on the state of broadcasting and how it reflected the declining morality of the country.  The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigated the incident and slapped a $550,000 fine against the broadcast company CBS.  The NFL also barred Music Television (MTV), which produced the event, from producing future NFL halftime shows.

The Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime incident captured the attention of the American public.  The FCC received numerous indecency complaints following the incident.  A poll released by the Associated Press showed that while more than half the respondents were offended with the incident, only 18% supported the FCC investigation. 


Minnesota Vikings Boat Party Scandal

Professional sports athletes are considered role models to young kids.  Any hint of indecency from these players sends a bad message to its millions of young fans.  Certainly, the actions of the players in what is dubbed as the Minnesota Vikings Boat Party scandal make it one of the most embarrassing sports scandals in professional football.

The sports scandal took place on October 6, 2005 when seventeen Minnesota Viking players including quarterback Daunte Culpepper, Fred Smoot, Mewelde Moore, and Pat Williams boarded two yachts on Lake Minnetonka with prostitutes in tow.  They performed group sex acts with the prostitutes, making it a full blown sex party.  

The sexual acts were described around media circuits, shocking the public with the players' wild behavior.  Although several professional sports scandals have been the talk in sports bars and joints, there was never a sports scandal that involved group sex.  Some Viking players who were questioned admitted that this is not the first time that it happened.  Although there are more Vikings players who were suspected in the sex party, only four players were charged.


Patriots Spygate Scandal

The Spygate scandal is one of the much publicized major sports scandals of the NFL.  The New England Patriots were reprimanded by the NFL for videotaping New York Jets' defensive coaches' signals from the sideline during a game in September 2007.  Videotaping during a game for scouting purposes is a violation of league rules.  The NFL fined New England Patriots head coach Bill Bellichick $500,000 for being the main perpetrator of the incident.  The NFL also slapped the New England Patriots with a $250,000 fine and voided their first round pick for the 2008 NFL Draft.  The NFL also reviewed and confiscated the tapes.

The investigation led to reports that the New England Patriots have been engaged in this practice since 2000, the year in which Bill Bellichick became a head coach.  Bellichick insisted that he was working within league rules as long as the tapes were not used for the same game.  As a result of this sports scandal, the NFL adapted stronger policies against espionage tactics or any practice that gives the perpetrators an unfair advantage over its opponents.


Southern Methodist University Football Scandal

College football programs have the most lucrative funding of any athletic program of an NCAA Division I school.  Winning one of the heralded “bowl” games brings pride to a school.  Students, professors, and school staff rally together to support their football team.  The alumni also pledge a lot of endowments whenever their football team performs well.  Thus, it is important for a school’s football program to be competitive in games and be ranked among the best in the nation. 

Some schools who disregard the spirit of the game fall into the trap of large college sports scandals that can embarrass the school for years to come.  This is the case of the Southern Methodist University (SMU) football scandal.  This incident is regarded as one of the largest college football scandals in history.  SMU was investigated by the NCAA for allegations of maintaining a slush fund, a fund not accounted for in the program’s list of expenses.  The slush fund was used to complete “under the table” transactions and payments to players.  Further investigation showed that SMU maintained a slush fund from the 1970’s until 1986.  As a result, SMU was given the NCAA “death penalty.”  The death penalty cancelled the entire schedule of SMU for the 1987 season.  This is the most severe penalty ever given to a member NCAA institution.  The punishment given to SMU crippled their football program, and they were not able to field a team for the 1988 season.  The NCAA death penalty was only given four times in history, making this sports scandal one of the biggest stories in college football.