[Editor’s note: Saints coach Sean Payton and Saints G.M. Mickey Loomis have issued a joint statement regarding the bounty system that the Saints utilized from 2009 through 2011. The full text of the statement appears below.]
We acknowledge that the violations disclosed by the NFL during their investigation of our club happened under our watch. We take full responsibility.
This has brought undue hardship on Mr. Benson, who had nothing to do with this activity. He has been nothing but supportive and for that we both apologize to him.
These are serious violations and we understand the negative impact it has had on our game. Both of us have made it clear within our organization that this will never happen again, and make that same promise to the NFL and most importantly to all of our fans.