The NFL has fined both the Denver Broncos and head coach Josh McDaniels $50,000 each for an incident stemming from a Broncos employee filming the practice of the San Francisco 49ers in London. The person who did the actual filming, Steve Scarnecchia,
had been initially been placed on a “personal leave of absence” by the Broncos for making the video, but has now been fired “for cause.”
In a statement released by the Broncos’ owner, Pat Bowlen mentioned that neither head coach Josh McDaniels nor anyone else in the organization told Scarnecchia to videotape the 49ers.
Upon learning of the video, Josh McDaniels informed Scarnecchia that he would not use the tape and had it deleted off the computer’s hard drive it was on. Under league rules, though, McDaniels had to inform the league offices of the incident, which he did not do so.
In a separate statement, McDaniels apologized for not following the proper guidelines concerning the incident. He and the Broncos accept full responsibility for the incident and the actions taken by the league.