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.