The NFL reportedly won’t follow TMZ’s trend of buying nefarious videos anytime soon.
Following the release of the Kareem Hunt altercation video by TMZ, some have wondered whether or not the league should start buying up tapes in order to avoid embarrassing releases. The video becoming public resulted in the Chiefs cutting Hunt. (RELATED: Will A Team Sign NFL Player Cut After Alleged Violence Against A Woman? Here’s What Executives Are Saying)
Despite all that, the NFL still won’t plan on changing anytime soon.
ProFootballTalk reported the following Wednesday afternoon:
In the aftermath of the latest video that the NFL couldn’t get but that TMZ could, the question has emerged regarding whether the NFL should do what TMZ does when obtaining videos that contain images of player misconduct: Buy them.
But the NFL isn’t willing to do that. Per a source with knowledge of the league’s thinking, the NFL’s concerns relate in large part to the possibility of becoming involved in litigation between the entity that created the video and the person who sold it to the league. Media entities like TMZ can refuse to disclose sources; the NFL is concerned that it wouldn’t be able to do the same.
Judging from what PFT wrote, it sounds like the league worries it won’t have the same legal protection of a media outlet. I’m not a lawyer and haven’t ever pretended to be one. However, I can understand the league not wanting to get dragged into court constantly over any tapes they obtain. That makes more than perfect sense.
Besides, it might not be too smart for the league to give off the vibe it’s only buying tapes to save itself from embarrassment. Even if that’s not what the reality of the situation would be, we all know how the internet can take something and run with it.
Besides, just because the NFL buys a tape doesn’t mean that it won’t end up getting released elsewhere anyway. At that point, the NFL wasted money and still doesn’t save itself from a public nightmare like the Hunt and Ray Rice situations.
The NFL needs to focus on football and not playing detective. It’s a sports league. It’s not the mafia or the FBI.
