In a ruling passed down from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady’s four game suspension for his involvement in last season’s “Deflategate scandal” was upheld.

Prior to last season’s AFC title game against the Indianapolis Colts, Brady is believed to have actively participated in planning and executing the deflating of game footballs. The Patriots ended up winning that game and going on to defeat the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl.

After news of the violations broke, a league investigation of the incident began, led by investigator Ted Wells who stated in his report that Brady was “more probable than not” aware about the deflated footballs. The league acted swiftly, suspending the star quarterback for the first four games of the upcoming 2015 season, citing “competitive advantage” as the cause.

With the appeal, Brady was insisting that all records of the investigation and legal proceedings be sealed, and that he not be suspended from any games. The NFL was unwilling to agree to such a deal and the NFLPA was unable to convince Brady to take at least a one-game suspension, confess to his involvement, and agree to let records remain unsealed.

Brady is expected to continue to pursue legal options to fight Roger Goodell’s ruling and the New England Patriots organization appears to be backing their franchise quarterback, expressing disappointment in the ruling of the commissioner.

The NFL released the following statement regarding the upheld decision:

On or shortly before March 6, the day that Tom Brady met with independent investigator Ted Wells and his colleagues, Brady directed that the cell phone he had used for the prior four months be destroyed. He did so even though he was aware that the investigators had requested access to text messages and other electronic information that had been stored on that phone. ‎During the four months that the cell phone was in use, Brady had exchanged nearly 10,000 text messages, none of which can now be retrieved from that device. The destruction of the cell phone was not disclosed until June 18, almost four months after the investigators had first sought electronic information from Brady.

Based on the Wells Report and the evidence presented at the hearing, Commissioner Goodell concluded in his decision that Brady was aware of, and took steps to support‎, the actions of other team employees to deflate game footballs below the levels called for by the NFL’s Official Playing Rules. The commissioner found that Brady’s deliberate destruction of potentially relevant evidence went beyond a mere failure to cooperate in the investigation and supported a finding that he had sought to hide evidence of his own participation in the underlying scheme to alter the footballs.

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