Deflategate

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The Deflategate scandal was a National Football League (NFL) controversy in the United States involving the allegation that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady ordered the deliberate deflation of footballs that were used in the Patriots' victory against the Indianapolis Colts during the 2014 AFC Championship Game on January 18, 2015. The controversy resulted in Brady being suspended for the first four games of the 2016 NFL season, while the Patriots were fined $1 million and forfeited two draft selections in 2016. For his alleged part in the scandal, Brady's suspension was originally to be implemented during the 2015 regular season. Brady successfully appealed the suspension in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, allowing him to resume his playing duties for the entirety of 2015. However, following the conclusion of the season, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reinstated Brady's four-game suspension, which became effective for the 2016 regular season. After losing a request for a rehearing, Brady announced he would accept the suspension and missed the season's first four games. Brady was later reinstated as the Patriots' starting quarterback on October 9, 2016, versus the Cleveland Browns, concluding the events of Deflategate. The controversy remained a topic of discussion during the season, which concluded with the Patriots winning Super Bowl LI and Brady being named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the game. The season also saw the NFL change the procedure for monitoring football pressure, conducting air pressure spot-checks during halftime of games. In February 2022, it was revealed by sportswriter Mike Florio that the NFL deleted data from 2015 regular season football air-pressure spot-checks that showed similar deflation of balls at halftime in similar weather conditions on orders from NFL general counsel Jeff Pash.