NFL Network Fires Warren Sapp After Post-Super Bowl Arrest For Assault And Solicitation- Update
UPDATED 2:49 PM: Phoenix police have officially booked Warren Sapp on two misdemeanor counts of assault and one of soliciting a prostitute, and the NFL Network now says it has fired him. “Warren Sapp’s contract has been terminated,
and he no longer works for NFL Network,” network spokesman Alex Riethmiller said in a statement. The network had said earlier that Sapp was suspended indefinitely. .
This isn’t Sapp’s first brush with the law since joining the league-owned NFL Network in 2008. The Hall of Famer was arrested the day before the 2011 Super Bowl in Miami and charged with one count of domestic battery. Prosecutors dropped that case three months later after finding inconsistencies between the victim’s statements and evidence.
PREVIOUSLY 1:28 PM: NFL Network star Warren Sapp has been suspended by the network following his arrest in Phoenix for soliciting a prostitute hours after the Super Bowl, which Sapp was covering as an analyst. “Warren Sapp has been suspended indefinitely without pay from NFL Network pending the outcome of ongoing police investigation,” NFL Network spokesman Alex Riethmiller said in a statement.
Local ABC affiliate KNXV-TV reports that police picked up the Pro Football Hall of Famer at the Renaissance Hotel and that he is being held on one count of solicitation and two counts of assault following an overnight incident at the hotel.
Sapp is one of league-owned NFL Network’s most familiar and popular analysts, and his arrest and suspension is the latest unwelcome news for the NFL. Sunday’s thrilling Super Bowl was a high point for the league after a season of bruisingly bad PR involving players’ legal troubles and and other issues on and off the field.
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