Bountygate Movie Being Made for Netflix Starring Kevin James

Minnesota Vikings fans know this scandal well as it may have been a factor in keeping the team from a Super Bowl appearance.

A new movie called 'Home Team' is being made by Netflix and will feature 'Mall Cop' and 'The King of Queens' star Kevin James as Saints' head coach Sean Payton. The movie will chronicle the infamous Bountygate scandal that happened within the New Orleans Saints organization from 2009 to 2011.

During Bountygate, coaches would give cash bounties to Saints players for injuring opposing players, the scheme was orchestrated by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and was covered up by Sean Payton.

Get our free mobile app

The NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell wanted to make clear that actives like this wouldn't be tolerated in the NFL, so they suspended Payton one year without pay and Williams was suspended indefinitely from the NFL, but returned to coaching a year later. The team was also fined $500,000 and got some draft picks taken away.

Vikings' fans will remember the beating Brett Favre took in the 2009 NFC Championship Game, and the eventual outcome of that game, and once this scandal became front page news, it was easy to explain the exceptionally aggressive play from the Saints' defense during that game. Favre had a $10,000 bounty on him that night and the money would go to any Saints' player that could knock him out of the game.

Peter King reports that Payton has given approval on the final script after some changes and production on the movie will begin later this year.