On multiple occasions, most notably with Ray Rice and Kareem Hunt, the NFL has been caught flat-footed by TMZ publishing video of NFL players acting badly. Which has led some to say the NFL ought to investigate these cases the same way TMZ does, by paying people for videos.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell shot that idea down today, saying he thinks it would be inappropriate for the NFL to do anything other than go through official channels like asking police departments and businesses to share security footage.
“We don’t pay for video evidence,” Goodell said. “That’s not appropriate for a league or organization to do that.”
Of course, that approach has already been proven ineffective in the Rice and Hunt cases. So why not improve the league’s own investigations by paying for information?
“We’re not going to do it by corrupting people or trying to bribe them to give us video. That’s not what we do,” Goodell said.
Which means the Hunt video won’t be the last one that TMZ gets before the NFL.