From an investigative report commissioned by the National Football League and released in May. The league hired Exponent, an engineering-consulting company, to determine whether footballs used by the New England Patriots during the American Football Conference Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts, on January 18, 2015, were intentionally deflated below the NFL’s pressure standards.

May 6, 2015

Subject: Ball-Deflation Timing Investigation

Exponent Project No. 1500736.000

experimental procedure

Thirteen exemplar footballs of known initial pressure were placed into an equipment bag believed to be similar, if not identical, to the bag used by the Patriots on the…