The
New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, widely dubbed "
Bountygate", was an incident in which members of the
New Orleans Saints franchise of the
NFL were accused of paying out bonuses, or "
bounties", for injuring opposing team players. None of the hits in question were ever penalized or deemed illegal by in-game officials. The pool was alleged to have been in operation from
2009 (the year in which the Saints won
Super Bowl XLIV) to
2011.