Summary: The NFLPA reportedly spent $3.5 million to defend Tom Brady in Deflategate.
CBS News called Deflategate “arguably the biggest waste of time in NFL history,” and it was costly too. According to CBS News the NFLPA, the company’s players’ union, spent over $3.5 million in legal fees in order to defend Tom Brady and his balls.
Brady was suspended for four games after he was accused of knowing his balls were improperly deflated, and the union spent millions to defend him from the suspension. He has since quit his attempt to defend the ruling, but the NFLPA said they may continue the battle.
“We will continue to review all of our options and we reserve our rights to petition for cert to the Supreme Court,” the NFLPA stated.
According to court documents, the union paid its lawyers over $1.3 million to prepare and present evidence in a one-day arbitration, over $1.5 million for a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman, and almost $700,000 in preparing and filing briefs in response to the NFL’s appeal of Berman’s decision.
When it came to the numbers, CBS News said, “So a one-day hearing cost the union over $1.3 million? That’s either 2,600 hours at $500 an hour or 1,300 hours at $1,000 an hour. Or eight attorneys/legal personnel working 80 hours a piece for the week (or two) leading up to hearing at the cost of $2,031.25 an hour.”
In an interview with ESPN, a union spokesman said that none of the legal fees were taken from players’ yearly dues which cost $15,000 a person. The spokesman said they paid lawyer fees using royalties from NFL paraphernalia.
What do you think about Deflatgate? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: CBS News
Photo courtesy of the New Yorker