Report: Lawyers’ Deflategate Take Approaches $20 Million

ESPN speculates that the attorneys working on the Deflategate case raked in $20 million.

Ted Wells’ firm led the NFL investigation into the matter. The NFL paid them roughly $2.5 million, as per Wells’ original estimate for his services. ESPN posits that two additional law firms would have made an estimated $5 million; one for its involvement in the suspension of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and another litigating the case.

ESPN notes that Jeffrey Pash, the NFL’s general counsel, made $7.5 million in 2014. He made $7.86 million in 2012. The network assumes Pash spent 60 percent of his time on Deflategate, meaning he would have been paid $4.5 million. Pash’s inside counsel may have made another $500,000.

The players’ union was represented by Winston & Strawn, which billed the union $3.5 million from March 2014 through February 2015; that would indicate roughly $3 million came from Deflategate. Gibson & Dunn was also involved in the case; ESPN believes that would amount to another $2 million.

The Patriots may have spent $500,000 f0r their attorneys.

ESPN figures that another $2 million was earned through ancillary costs racked up by attorneys.