After weeks of investigation, the NFL does indeed plan to discipline the New England Patriots for recording the Cincinnati Bengals sideline.
Patriots are expected to be disciplined for acknowledged gameday video violations in Cincinnati, per league sources. Discipline likely to come in the next two weeks, but not all security reports back to NFL yet.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 4, 2020
What exactly that punishment will entail is still unknown at this point in time, but what is known now is that there is some sort of punishment coming down the pipeline.
The NFL released a statement earlier earlier saying that they have yet to find any link between the film crew who illegally recorded the sideline and the football operations of the team though. That detail will likely keep any punishment dished out to the Patriots from getting out of hand, to most NFL fans displeasure.
There has been a precedent set in the past where a team committing a gameday violation has been fined a significant amount and possibly lose a late round draft pick. Looking at the Patriots situation and their previous history with this type of thing, their punishment will almost certainly be along those same lines.
The Patriots still remain adamant that this had nothing to do with the day to day football operations of the team and is just a misstep by the crew doing the videotaping for their online documentaries.
