National Football League

Goodell to NFL clubs: Eliminate bounties

Published Mar. 21, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Commissioner Roger Goodell has ordered the owners of all 32 NFL teams to make sure their clubs are not offering bounties like the New Orleans Saints did from 2009-11.

Goodell's memo instructs each team's principal owner and head coach to certify in writing by March 30 that no pay-for-performance system exists.

Goodell says Wednesday that bounty programs ''are incompatible with our efforts to promote sportsmanship, fair play, and player safety.''

He suspended Saints head coach Sean Payton for the entire 2012 season and GM Mickey Loomis for the first eight regular-season games, while banning former New Orleans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams indefinitely.