NFL Gives Miami Dolphins Fans a Welcome Respite From Stephen Ross
Last week, the NFL fined Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross $1.5 million following an investigation that turned up separate incidences of tampering that involved hall-of-fame-bound former New England Patriots and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton.
The Dolphins also will forfeit a first-round selection in the 2023 NFL draft and a third-round selection in the 2024 draft thanks to evidence that was uncovered demonstrating that Ross continually attempted to lure Brady and Payton to the Dolphins, against NFL rules.
That’s the bad news. Mostly, the loss of draft picks. Nobody cares about the fine, including Ross.
The good news is the NFL also suspended the Dolphins owner until October 17, banning him from the team’s facility through the first six games of the year.
No practices. No games. No nothing. Ross will be lucky if the NFL allows him to purchase tickets before week 6.
Ross being uninvolved with the team — even if that just means he’s no longer walking the sidelines in a suit and aviators — is fantastic news. It may even be worth the picks, to be honest.
It seems like every time information involving the Dolphins owner come to light, it turns out to be a heaping pile of manure, one that he makes sure to step in and track all around the facility.
Statement from Stephen Ross. pic.twitter.com/Ori647H0oF
— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) August 2, 2022
Somehow, Ross has managed to be both an absentee and meddlesome owner. While his team is based in Miami, Ross rarely is caught in town for anything mundane. He spends most of his time in New York, swooping in to peacock on the sidelines on game day, usually flanked by a celebrity and his yes men.
Amazingly, Ross’s lack of in-person involvement doesn’t stop him from causing drama that not only rocks the Dolphins locker room but the entire league, and on a biannual basis. All he requires to accomplish this are private jets and an iPhone.
What’s most perplexing is that Ross still hasn’t learned his lesson. Whether it’s starting a coach hunt before bothering to fire his current coach, or, as in the case of Sean Payton, courting a still-employed coach, Ross very much plays by the rules of a man that believes being wealthy makes rules optional.
It would be one thing if Ross broke rules and had something to show for it like the Miami Heat did when they were penalized for tampering. Instead, he’s always left paying the bill for a meal he didn’t get to eat.
One might hope that being unable to interact with the multibillion-dollar team he owns for the first six weeks of the season will give Ross sufficient time to reconsider the degree to which he’s involved with the team.
Sadly, anyone who’s been paying attention since he bought the Dolphins in 2008 already knows that whatever the next scandal is, it’ll likely be bigger than the ones that came before it.
