4:52 p.m.: Mercifully, Bisciotti’s press conference is now over, 47 minutes after it began.
The Ravens owner was very open in answering all questions and even asked to stay longer, but his answers were often misleading and occasionally contradictory. It seems like this saga is far from over.
4:48 p.m.: Bisciotti claims his biggest regret is not getting the video and forwarding it to the NFL, which he says would have led to an unprecedented suspension of Rice.
“There’s no excuse for me to not demand the video. It never crossed my mind; I’m deeply sorry for that,” he says.
4:45 p.m.: Bisciotti says the Rice situation pushed him to send a message to his players.
“Be paranoid,” he told them. “Say to yourself, ‘Tonight’s the night someone’s going to put me in a bad situation. It’s really healthy to be paranoid when you’re out and about.”
4:35 p.m.: Bisciotti has apparently turned to self-deprecation in answering reporters’ questions.
The Ravens owner was asked why he kept Rice on the team for so long knowing what he did.
“I’m not that good,” he responded. ” … I’m not that honorable, I guess.”
He was then asked about the possibility of selling the team, to which he responded, “if they force me to sell, I’ll sell. I don’t work that hard anyway, so if I sold the team it’s not like I’d be losing 60 hours a week.”
4:26 p.m.: Bisciotti has also denied claims that he went to the NFL to campaign for a shorter suspension.
“I expected four or six games,” he says. “I was surprised as anybody it was two.”
4:23 p.m.: Bisciotti seems to be sending mixed messages about his team’s — and the league’s — handling of the Rice video.
Bisciotti explained the Ravens’ decision to not investigate further, claiming that “it was a simple decision to stand down when (Rice’s charge) was elevated to a felony.”
Moments later, however, the Ravens’ owner expressed regret about not seeing the full video sooner, adding that a “precedent-setting suspension” could have been handed out had the league seen the whole video when it was first made available.
Bisciotti isn’t ducking the questions, but his answers aren’t necessarily leaving people satisfied.
4:06 p.m.: Once again, Bisciotti was asked about the initial two-game ban for Rice.
“History has shown two games is the longest suspension for domestic violence in the league,” Bisciotti said, going to pains to avoid criticizing Roger Goodell or the NFL’s handling of the situation.
“I said it last week, I’ll say it again, I’m sorry we didn’t push harder to get that,” he said. Yet he added that nobody will be getting fired over the issue.
4:05 p.m.: It appears Bisciotti is not here to talk about the Rice situation per se, but rather to respond to ESPN’s report on the Rice situation. His issue is with the media coverage, specifically the “Outside the Lines” report.
“I think it’s obvious most of the sources are people who work for Ray,” Bisciotti said, claiming the anonymous sources are clearly Rice’s agent, lawyer and friends.
Bisciotti called the report an attempt to get Rice reinstated, and said ESPN gave the team only two hours to respond before airing the story.
3:50 p.m.: Ahead of the press conference, the Ravens released a statement outlining some rebuttals to details in the “Outside the Lines” report.
The Ravens immediately claimed “numerous errors, inaccuracies, false assumptions and, perhaps, misunderstandings” in ESPN’s report. Clearly, they did a lot of home work to show just that, laying out specific response to multiple aspects of the report.
The statement amounts to eight printed pages, outlining each person and item the team took issue with.
If only the Ravens’ initial investigation into the Ray Rice incident as as thorough as their investigation into ESPN’s investigation of them.
3:15 p.m. ET: It will be Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti’s turn to address the media on Monday afternoon.
The team announced Bisciotti will hold a press conference today at 4 p.m. ET in Baltimore, presumably to address the ESPN “Outside the Lines” report that alleged Ravens management knew of the Ray Rice video tape released by TMZ hours after the incident occurred, went to great lengths to cover up the news and urged Roger Goodell to give their star a lenient punishment.
The Ravens responded to the report after it came out Friday night, saying that the story contains “numerous errors, inaccuracies, false assumptions and, perhaps, misunderstandings.”
The team added that they would address the after their game against the Cleveland Browns, and Bisciotti’s time has come to respond to the allegations. It likely can’t go any worse than Goodell’s press conference, but we’re expecting the media to bring the heat once again.
We’ll bring you full coverage of Bisciotti’s news conference, so check back to NESN.com for updates.
Photo via Rob Foldy/USA TODAY Sports Images
