(Sports Network) - New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis had the
ability to eavesdrop on opposing coaching staffs, according to a report on
Monday.
The ESPN program "Outside the Lines" was told that the U.S. Attorney's Office
in the Eastern District of Louisiana was informed on Friday that Loomis had an
electronic device in his Superdome suite that had been re-wired to give him
the capability to eavesdrop on visiting coaching staffs for three seasons.
Loomis responded by email to Fox Sports' Jay Glazer, which Glazer posted on
his Twitter account:
"This report on ESPN is absolutely false. I have a monitor in front of me in
my booth that provides the league issued stats for the game. I have a small tv
[sic] with the network broadcast and I have an earpiece to listen to the WWL-
AM radio (flagship broadcaster) game broadcast.
"To think I am sitting in there listening and actually and or doing something
with the offensive and defensive play calls of the opposing teams makes this
story and the unnamed sources that provided the false information that much
more less credible...it just didn't happen."
According to the ESPN report, sources that are familiar with game-day
operations for the Saints said that Loomis had the ability to secretly listen
for most of the 2002 season and all of the '03 and '04 seasons.
Loomis, who became the general manager of the team in 2002, was issued an
eight-game suspension for his role in the bounty program that was brought to
light in early March.
U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Jim Letten, confirmed
that he was told of the alleged eavesdropping on Friday and sources told ESPN
that he has briefed the FBI about it. If the allegations are proven true, they
could be both a violation of NFL rules and a federal crime, as the federal
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 prohibits any person from
intercepting communications from another person using an electronic or
mechanical device.
The device was reportedly installed in the general manager's suite in 2000,
when Randy Mueller served as the Saints' general manager. However, the sources
said that Mueller only had the ability to monitor game-day communication of
the Saints' coaching staff.
The Sports Network