{"id":449415,"date":"2026-02-02T16:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T16:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/449415\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T16:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T16:25:10","slug":"nfl-remains-quiet-on-steve-tischs-jeffrey-epstein-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/449415\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL remains quiet on Steve Tisch’s Jeffrey Epstein connection"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we posted on Sunday an item on the report that the NFL fined the Seahawks $5 million<\/a> for non-compliance with ownership requirements, the league promptly sent an email reiterating its position<\/a> (as mentioned in the original blurb) that the Seahawks were not fined.<\/p>\n

Twice over the weekend, we asked the NFL if there was any comment on the extensive presence of Giants co-owner Steve Tisch in the latest Jeffrey Epstein files Friday news dump. There has been no response to two separate inquiries.<\/p>\n

They won\u2019t be able to kick the can on Monday. Someone inevitably will ask Commissioner Roger Goodell about Tisch at Goodell\u2019s annual Super Bowl press conference. They\u2019ll surely have talking points ready for Goodell to use. It will be interesting to hear what they are.<\/p>\n

Margaret Fleming of FrontOfficeSports.com has created a list<\/a> of all sports figures mentioned in Friday\u2019s release of Epstein emails and other documents. Only Tisch\u2019s communications relate to Epstein\u2019s apparent specialty of connecting men of means and influence with women. There is no suggestion or indication that the women to which the messages refer were minors.<\/p>\n

Tisch issued a statement on Friday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a brief association<\/a> where we exchanged emails about adult women, and in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy, and investments,\u201d Tisch said. \u201cI did not take him up on any of his invitations and never went to his island. As we all know now, he was a terrible person and someone I deeply regret associating with.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been calls for more information, and for the league to take action against Tisch. Ian O\u2019Connor of TheAthletic.com, whose extensive reporting on the hiring of coach John Harbaugh makes clear that O\u2019Conner has contacts high in Giants organization, has written a column arguing that Tisch \u201cshould be fined, suspended and prohibited<\/a> from participating in any team or league activities for some period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the bare minimum. Other owners have sold their equity based on related behaviors. Jerry Richardson promptly sold the Panthers when a string of past settlements with team employees came to light. Daniel Snyder eventually was compelled by the league to sell the Commanders due to multiple examples of alleged workplace misconduct.<\/p>\n

Writes O\u2019Connor: \u201cTisch should really sit in front of a mirror and ask himself if he\u2019s still fit to be the team\u2019s chairman and executive vice president, or if it would be a better idea to step aside and turn over those titles to his siblings Jonathan and Laurie, who both sit on the board of directors.\u201d<\/p>\n

For years, the league has taken the position that \u201c[o]wnership and club or league management have traditionally been held to a higher standard and will be subject to more significant discipline when violations of the Personal Conduct Policy occur.\u201d A full section of Playmakers was dedicated to various situations from 2001 through 2021 during which owners apparently were not held to a higher standard \u2014 and possibly were held at times to a lower standard.<\/p>\n

In 2023, revisions to the version of the Personal Conduct Policy specifically applicable to owners removed the language<\/a> quoted above. The league\u2019s position was that the sentence remains in the broader version of the policy. Still, the change came after word surfaced that Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson intended to highlight<\/a> the double standard in the case arising from his 20-plus civil lawsuits alleging misconduct during massage-therapy sessions by pointing to the NFL\u2019s treatment of multiple owners.<\/p>\n

One of the owners, Jerry Jones of the Cowboys, chided the approach. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a standard Players Association comeback<\/a>,\u201d Jones said at the time. \u201dThat is the drill. That is the drill to go around to say you didn\u2019t punish such and such. Anybody would know that every player case and every case that involves non-players in the NFL are dealing with dramatically different principal facts, which is all the difference in the world. . . .<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be like walking down to the courthouse and saying, \u2018You didn\u2019t give that guy that much,\u2019 and not take into account what the action was or the circumstances behind it. That\u2019s called shooting volleys. That\u2019s just shooting stuff over your back. That\u2019s the way I look at it when I see something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, the league has found itself dealing with a unique and unprecedented set of \u201cprincipal facts.\u201d How will the league deal with Tisch?<\/p>\n

For now, the NFL has opted for radio silence. When Goodell speaks to reporters later today, ignoring the question repeatedly will not be an option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When we posted on Sunday an item on the report that the NFL fined the Seahawks $5 million…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":["post-449415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}