National Football League

Falcons reportedly will lose pick over pumping in crowd noise

Published Mar. 30, 2015 12:21 p.m. ET

foxsports

By Mike Cole

The NFL is coming down hard on the Atlanta Falcons.

ESPN reported Monday that the Falcons are expected to lose a draft pickand team president Rich McKay will be suspended from the competition committee as punishment for piping in crowd noise at home games in recent seasons.

Additionally, the NFL could also hit the Falcons with heavy fines, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The punishment is likely to be made official Tuesday, according to the report, roughly six weeks after Falcons owner Arthur Blank admitted that the team pumped in crowd noise during games at the Georgia Dome over the last two seasons.

“It’s not really a fine line,” Blank told The Associated Press in early February.”I think what we’ve done in 2013 and 2014 was wrong. Anything that affects the competitive balance and fairness on the field, we’re opposed to, as a league, as a club and as an owner. It’s obviously embarrassing but beyond embarrassing it doesn’t represent our culture and what we’re about.”

Atlanta only went 3-4 at home last season.

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