NEW YORK — The NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell both made weak and cautious statements Monday in their first comments on New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch’s email correspondences with Jeffrey Epstein that were released three days prior.
The league pre-empted Goodell’s annual Super Bowl press conference with 21 empty words that seemed designed at minimum to keep Tisch’s situation at arm’s length from the shield.
“The league is aware of the reports and Steve’s response,” an NFL spokesman said in a statement. “Our office will look into the matter to understand the facts.”
Then Goodell pumped the brakes on a full investigation of the matter and on Tisch possibly facing discipline under the league’s personal conduct policy.
Goodell first was asked to what extent the NFL would look into the matter and whether Tisch could be subject to discipline under the policy.
“Well, you may be getting ahead of yourself on the second part,” Goodell said. “But I would say that absolutely we are going to look at all the facts. We’re going to look at the context of those, we’re going to try to understand that and we’ll look at how that falls under the policy. But I think we take one step at a time. Let’s get the facts first.”
A second reporter pressed Goodell on whether the NFL was opening an investigation into the matter, and he stopped short of saying so.
“We’ll continue to follow any of the facts that come up, and we’ll determine whether we open an investigation or not based on those facts,” he said.
Eventually, Goodell admitted he was concerned about how this can reflect on the NFL and leaned back on the NFL’s personal conduct policy.
“Sure,” he said. “But that’s why we have a personal conduct policy, and that’s why we’ll look into the facts.”
The NFL personal conduct does not require a crime to be committed for enforcement or consequences.
“Everyone who is part of the league must refrain from ‘conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in’ the NFL,” the league’s personal conduct policy reads. “It is not enough simply to avoid being found guilty of a crime in a court of law. We are all held to a higher standard and must conduct ourselves in a way that is responsible, promotes the values of the NFL, and is lawful.”
The policy later says: “Ownership 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.”
Multiple NFL owners have been forced to sell in recent years due to behavior that undermined the integrity of the league.
Jerry Richardson sold the Panthers when several past settlements with team employees came to light, and Daniel Snyder had to sell the Commanders due to multiple examples of alleged workplace misconduct.
And this issue isn’t going away until Tisch is removed as co-owner of the Giants franchise, even though and the NFL and Goodell acted Monday like they’re going to cross their fingers and hope this issue goes away.
Tisch was featured among millions of documents in the latest release of the Epstein files Friday, trading emails with the disgraced financier about connecting with women.
In one thread of correspondence in April 2013, Tisch emailed Epstein, then a convicted sex offender, to say he’d just had lunch with a friend of one of Epstein’s assistants. Describing her as a “very sweet girl,” he asked Epstein if he knew anything about her, the documents released show.
“no but I will ask [redacted] (all confidential) I will get all info, did you contact the great ass fake tit [redacted],” Epstein wrote back in a typo-laden response. “shes a character, short term, has an older boyfriend going to acting school, a 10 ass.
“I am happy to have you as a new but obviously shared interest friend.”
That was only the tip of the iceberg of several cringeworthy correspondences between the two men. It’s not clear what facts Goodell is claiming are not present in the official governmental document release that the NFL plans to look into.
“We had a brief association where we exchanged emails about adult women, and in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy, and investments,” Tisch said in his own statement late Friday night. “I 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.”
Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in prison for “solicitation of prostitution with a minor” in 2010, however, three years before the Tisch emails, and settled lawsuits with numerous victims alleging similar behavior. The widely criticized plea deal with the Justice Department came despite local police identifying dozens of potential victims.
Tisch, the Giants’ executive vice president and chairman of the board, is the Academy Award winning producer of Forrest Gump (1994). He’s also a cousin of NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
He is the son of the late Preston Robert “Bob” Tisch, the co-founder of the Loews Corporation who purchased a 50% share of the Giants in 1991. Tisch and John Mara have functioned as the Giants franchise’s controlling owners for their respective families since the passing of their fathers, Bob Tisch and Wellington Mara, in 2005.
But Tisch has taken a major step back in recent years in the operation of the team since the passing of his daughter, Hilary, in 2020. Loews is now a publicly traded company active in insurance, drilling rigs, natural gas, pipelines and hotels.
Epstein was arrested on sweeping sex trafficking charges in July of 2019 and found dead inside a cell at the now-shuttered Metropolitan Correctional Center about a month later. His death was officially ruled a suicide.
The league televised Goodell’s press conference on NFL Network on Monday evening.
Before cutting to Goodell’s press conference, veteran national reporter Steve Wyche was asked to preview some of the topics Goodell would be asked about.
“Some of the names that have come up on, — I don’t know if I can say it — but coming on a governmental list that have touched with some NFL owners. That definitely [is] going to be asked,” Wyche said.
After a commercial break, Wyche appeared to have permission to speak freely.
“Some things going on with some owners, names have shown up on that Epstein governmental list,” he said.
Then Goodell took the stage and said a whole lot of nothing about the NFL’s plans to take action on the matter.
____
