With the release of the Wells report, this makes the second time the New England Patriots have been caught in a cheating scandal. With Spygate the NFL gave them a slap on the wrist, so this time the league needs to ensure the punishment acts as a strong enough deterrent to dissuade teams and players from doing this again.
The Patriots prospered from Spygate by winning three Super Bowls and they’ve prospered with another championship from DeflateGate. Quarterback Tom Brady denied he had anything to do with this but those e-mails contradict him.
Whether the Patriots gained a competitive advantage from deflating the footballs or not is debatable.