Robert Kraft could face stiffer discipline than Jim Irsay reportedly

If found guilty of solicitation, Patriots owner Robert Kraft reportedly could face stiffer discipline than Jim Irsay received at the hands of the NFL.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has had himself quite a February. The beginning of the month was the highest of highs for Kraft, as his team overcame the odds and the naysayers to win their record-tying sixth Super Bowl championship. Now at the end of the month, Kraft is surely experiencing the lowest of lows, as he continues to find himself in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Last Friday, it was widely reported that Kraft was being investigated for his connection to a Florida massage parlor prostitution ring sting. By Monday, Kraft was formerly charged with solicitation and was given a court date – even as more details came out suggesting he visited one particular parlor twice, and less than 24 hours before the AFC Championship Game.

Throughout this ongoing ordeal, Kraft has vehemently denied any wrongdoing or illicit behavior on his part. Supposedly there is videotaped evidence that shows Kraft paying for sex at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida, and said evidence will be used to convict him at his April court date.

There have only been two previous cases of the NFL disciplining its owners: once in 1999 when former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo was fined $1 million and suspended for a season because of a gaming scandal, and once in 2014 when current Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay was fined $500,000 and suspended for six months because of a DWI.

According to Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman, if Robert Kraft is found guilty of soliciting prostitution, he could face even steeper penalties and discipline than both of them. Freeman claims that “the general consensus I hear from speaking to people in the league (who are guessing) is that if the accusations against Kraft are proved accurate, the NFL will punish Kraft more severely than it did Irsay or DeBartolo.”

Freeman goes on to note that his sources “believe the league doesn’t want to be viewed as going easy on arguably the NFL’s most powerful owner. Also, they say, the NFL may have no choice. The Personal Conduct Policy says owners and high-ranking officials are to be held to a higher standard than players or others.”

While the billionaire Kraft should theoretically be able to survive even the largest financial penalty that could be levied against him, it will be interesting to see what other forms of consequences he may be subjected to if found guilty. Even a season-long suspension wouldn’t necessarily be a death blow to a team as well-run and talented as the Patriots.

If, however, Kraft is punished by the NFL (and/or by the law) to such a degree that he is forced to sell the team or recuse himself from running it, that would represent the most damaging blow imaginable to both Kraft himself, and to the Patriots as a franchise.