Vikings mum on Favre tampering allegations

The Minnesota Vikings have had little response thus far to tampering charges filed by the Green Bay Packers regarding quarterback Brett Favre.

Suddenly caught in the middle of the ongoing Favre saga, the Vikings declined to give their side of the story or provide any real reaction after the Packers accused them earlier this week of having "inappropriate dialogue" with Favre.

"We are not commenting on the issue," a Vikings spokesman said. "These types of matters are handled by the league."

The Vikings, if found guilty, could face penalties that include loss of draft picks and/or fines. The San Francisco 49ers were stripped of a fifth-round pick in this year's draft and forced to swap third-round choices with Chicago after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the 49ers tampered with Chicago All-Pro linebacker Lance Briggs.

The Packers filed tampering charges with the NFL late last week, alleging that Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell had inappropriate phone conversations with Favre. Bevell was an assistant coach with the Packers from 2000 to 2005 and became Favre's close friend.

Favre, who retired in March but now wants to return to football, remains the property of the Packers. He asked for his release after the team informed him it has moved on.

Tampering, although prohibited, allegedly has occurred among NFL teams. Greg Aiello, NFL senior vice president of media relations, has refused to confirm if tampering charges have been filed against the Vikings, but there have been multiple reports that that is the case.

Asked for the NFL's definition of tampering, Aiello responded in an e-mail that it "refers to any interference by a member club with the employer-employee relationship of another club or any attempt by a club to impermissibly induce a person to seek employment with that club or with the NFL."

Aiello said the league does not comment on tampering cases "unless it is necessary to announce disciplinary action," and declined to go into specifics of how the NFL investigates these matters. A timetable for possible disciplinary action also isn't clear. Goodell will have the final say on the matter.

Aiello said the NFL's tampering policy is "a longstanding" one and that while "parts of it are clarified from time to time, there have been no major changes in recent years."

A story on Sports Illustrated's website said Goodell's judgment against the 49ers last March was the league's first tampering ruling since 1995.

The 49ers case sounded fairly innocent, but the details were kept so quiet that it's hard to know what actual information the NFL's investigators uncovered. Goodell ruled the 49ers had contacted Briggs' agent, Drew Rosenhaus, about the linebacker during the 2007 season.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the only evidence introduced during the hearing was a phone record between Rosenhaus and the 49ers, in which the team never made contact with the agent. However, the San Jose Mercury News reported that, citing unidentified sources, the NFL obtained internal e-mails from the 49ers, which presumably supported the Bears' case.

Presumably, Bevell and the Vikings will contend any contact between the coordinator and Favre revolved strictly around their friendship and had nothing to do with gauging Favre's interest in playing for the Vikings.

"Of course, (tampering) has to be established," Aiello wrote. "There are teams that file a tampering charge against another team and then our office reviews it and it turns out there was no tampering, or that there was insufficient evidence to prove that there was tampering.

"And in most cases, invariably, the team that files the tampering charge believes there was tampering and the other team doesn't believe there was tampering. So, gray area? Absolutely. That's why these disputes are resolved by the commissioner."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)