By Les Carpenter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 2, 2008

PHOENIX, Feb. 1 -- With the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl and the sudden threat of Senate hearings on the destruction of tapes used to spy on opponents, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Friday the league uncovered evidence of the Patriots potentially cheating at the end of the 2006 season and in 2007 preseason games.

He added the league discovered six tapes and subsequent notes that proved New England was illegally obtaining other teams' signals. But he said he ordered them destroyed after information about one tape was made public despite the league's best efforts to ensure it wouldn't be released.

Nonetheless, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said Friday he does not understand Goodell's reasons for destroying evidence and is considering asking the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he is the ranking minority member, to look into the issue.

As is always the case when Congress looks into sports leagues, Specter raised the issue of the NFL's antitrust exemption and said at a news conference the topic "has been on my mind for a long time."

Speaking at his annual state of the league address, Goodell did not seem rattled by Specter, saying he would be willing to meet with the senator.

Goodell also seemed to play down the impact of the tapes, which were seized after the season's first week when the New York Jets said they caught the Patriots filming their defensive signals in a loss to New England at Giants Stadium. He said the tapes revealed exactly what New England officials told the league they would. He also questioned how much of an advantage the Patriots gained.

"In one of the tapes, a coach was waving at the cameras, showing that they knew they were being taped," Goodell said. "It's something that's done quite widely in sports, and teams prepare for that."

Still, he added, taping an opponent's signs upsets the competitive balance and still should be considered against the rules. Back when the Patriots were first caught, Goodell fined New England Coach Bill Belichick $500,000, which is the top amount a coach can be fined. He also took away one of the team's two No. 1 picks in this year's draft.

Goodell said it was important to destroy the tapes so the Patriots would not be able to gain a competitive edge from them.

"It was the best way to make sure the Patriots followed my instructions," he said. "I wanted to make sure that bit of information did not appear."

That way, he said, if more information surfaced, the league would know the Patriots had not been forthright when certified that they had given the league every piece of evidence that they spied on other teams.

When Goodell was asked why he wouldn't just lock up the evidence, he said the league thought it had when it first collected the notes and tapes but that information leaked out five days later. He said the NFL conducted an investigation but figured the best thing to do was to destroy the tapes. He said the tapes no longer served a purpose.

Specter said he did not understand Goodell's explanation.

"When he gives the reason for destroying the tapes [to] not have them available for a competitive advantage for someone else makes no sense," Specter said at his news conference. "They were under lock and key at the NFL. When matters of public interest are destroyed, it raises some obvious questions."

Patriots owner Robert Kraft did not discuss the subject when asked about it following Goodell's speech, saying only, "I try to speak about things I know something about."

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson said Goodell's decision to destroy the tapes "was a judgment that he made, that's obviously his decision," Johnson said. Johnson also said he is not angry about the taping and considered the issue "resolved."

Goodell also said he is considering finding new ways to seed teams for the playoffs in hopes of eliminating late-season games in which playoff-bound teams rest their important players. One solution, he said, is to have the teams with the best records be seeded the highest regardless of where they finished in the division standings.

He also said several owners remained concerned about the current bargaining agreement, which can be reopened later in the year. They continue to believe the 60 percent of revenues they have given to players is too high and are worried about escalating stadium operations costs.

Goodell also indicated the league may examine the way the pool for rookie salaries is arranged, saying it isn't fair that older, more experienced players with proven track records often make less than first-round draft picks just coming into the league.