NFL Facing Its Own Investigation Today

Feb. 13, 2008 — -- NEW YORK -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Sen. Arlen Specter are to meet Wednesday to discuss the Spygate case involving the New England Patriots.

The meeting will take place at 3 p.m. ET in Specter's office in Washington, according to ESPN.com's Mike Fish. The Pennsylvania Republican has asked Goodell to explain his decision to destroy the tapes and notes from the case, which go back to 2002.

"I think they're [the NFL] going to want to not be uncooperative," Specter told Fish. "I expect they'll be cooperative. Once they come in, I've got a lot of questions for them. There are a lot of questions to be asked, and a lot of people we want to talk about."

Patriots coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 and the team was fined $250,000 for the illegal taping of the New York Jets' defensive signals in the opening week of this season. The Patriots also forfeited a first-round draft pick.

Specter's challenge to Goodell came two days before the Super Bowl, lost by the Patriots to the New York Giants on Feb. 3.

Specter refused to comment to Fish about the specific questions he wants to ask Goodell, but he previously has raised the issue of the league's destruction of tapes turned over by the Patriots.

The top-ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee has raised the possibility of congressional hearings if he wasn't satisfied with Goodell's answers.

In defending the destruction of the notes, Goodell said "there was no purpose to them at all." Specter said Goodell's response "didn't make any sense at all" and also questioned whether there might have been illegal acts by the Patriots before the 2005 Super Bowl, when they beat the Philadelphia Eagles.

The punishment went beyond the confiscated Jets tapes. The tapes and notes dated as far back as 2002 and the NFL said in October that Belichick acknowledged to Goodell that there had been spying since he became New England's coach in 2000.

Last week at the Pro Bowl, Goodell was asked why only six tapes were confiscated by the NFL's security department.