Arthur Blank: Falcons Were “Wrong” To Pipe In Crowd Noise

Update:

Falcons owner Arthur Blank mentioned Tuesday that they were “wrong” to pipe in artificial crowd noise during the 2013 and 2014 seasons while the opposing teams were huddling.

”It’s not really a fine line,” Blank told The Associated Press. ‘‘I think what we’ve done in 2013 and 2014 was wrong. Anything that affects the competitive balance and fairness on the field, we’re opposed to, as a league, as a club and as an owner. It’s obviously embarrassing but beyond embarrassing it doesn’t represent our culture and what we’re about.”

The league is currently in the process of investigating the situation, but it appears as though there is at least a chance that they could be docked a draft pick for this.

‘‘We’ve got some information internally,’‘ Blank said of the investigation. ”Not all, clearly, until we see the full report. But we’ve dealt with it internally the best we can, which was limited because we haven’t seen the report.

”We’ve gotten some information from the league but until we read the full report and until they publish their findings, we can’t be totally clear. We’ve talked to a lot of people and we’ve cooperated and we’ll be anxious to read the report.”

We’ll have more regarding the Falcons and possible penalties as the news is available.

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ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the NFL is investigating whether the Atlanta Falcons piped artificial crowd noise into their stadium during games the past two seasons.

According to Schefter the Falcons could receive “stiff penalties” from the NFL, which may include the loss of a draft pick.

A Falcons team spokesman tells Schefter: “We were informed during the season that the league office is looking into crowd noise during our games. We have cooperated fully with them, and we’re awaiting the outcome.”

The Falcons are accused of piping in the noise while the opposing team was huddling and trying to call their plays.

Source around the league have told Schefter that silent counts have basically rendered crowd noise more irrelevant, and it’s difficult to discern how much of an advantage any team would get from the additional noise.

Even so, the league still feels as though it’s worth looking into.