Secret tape deal might be close

For the NFL, the New England Patriots’ tale of the tape is beginning to sound more like a never-ending story.

Since the Super Bowl, the league has been trying to arrange an interview with Matt Walsh, a former Patriots video assistant. He is alleged to have damaging details on additional secret videotaping by the team, footage of opponents that presumably gave New England an unfair competitive advantage.

So far, however, Walsh has been unwilling to talk. He and the NFL, who for weeks have been deadlocked -- each accusing the other of making unfair demands -- say now that they are close to resolving their differences.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said that in the last week, attorneys from both sides “have had intensive and constructive discussions regarding some new and promising approaches” that could help bridge the impasse.

“They have made substantial progress toward an agreement that will allow Mr. Walsh to be interviewed,” Aiello said in a prepared statement. “Both sides are optimistic that any remaining issues can be addressed successfully and they are committed to reaching a full agreement as promptly as possible.”

Walsh, an assistant golf pro in Hawaii who worked as Patriots video assistant from 1999 to 2001 and was fired two years later, has been asking the league to sign a contract protecting him from legal or financial damages that he might incur because of this case, and to pay his legal fees.

“I have consistently asked the NFL to provide appropriate legal protections for Mr. Walsh,” said his Washington, D.C.-based attorney, Michael N. Levy. “In recent discussions I have had with the league’s lawyer, we have made substantial progress toward this end, and I am hopeful that we will be able to craft an agreement with the necessary legal protections so Mr. Walsh can come forward with the truth.”

The New York Times reported during Super Bowl week that Walsh said he had more information about the so-called Spygate videotaping that he was willing to disclose, but only if the newspaper paid his legal fees and any court damages against him. The paper declined.

Then, on the eve of Super Bowl XLII, the Boston Herald cited an unnamed source saying the Patriots secretly taped a Friday walk-through practice by the St. Louis Rams two days before the Super Bowl -- the most stinging accusation yet.

If that were the case -- or if the league determines new evidence surfaces pointing to other such transgressions by the Patriots -- the league has said it will act swiftly and severely. The Patriots were fined $750,000 by the NFL last fall after they were caught illegally taping the hand signals of New York Jets coaches, and New England was stripped of one of its two first-round selections in next month’s draft.

Commissioner Roger Goodell has warned the Patriots that if they have not come clean entirely on the extent of the taping, he will suspend Coach Bill Belichick for a year and further penalize the team.

Although he was a low-ranking employee for New England, Walsh is a key figure in an inquiry by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). On Monday, lawyers for former St. Louis Rams player Willie Gary and three fans said they would withdraw a lawsuit accusing the Patriots of cheating in the Super Bowl in early 2002. The suit will be dropped because lawyers think Walsh would use his constitutional right against self incrimination if he were deposed.

Meanwhile, in a memo sent last week to the league’s competition committee, Goodell detailed a plan requiring owners, general managers and coaches from each of the 32 teams certify each year that their franchise did not break the rules. The commissioner also recommended stiffer penalties for cheaters.

In the memo, first obtained by the Washington Post, Goodell wrote that “we must take every appropriate step to safeguard the integrity of the NFL.”

Goodell said that, in the wake of investigating the Patriots situation, the league began keeping a closer eye on teams. He said that will continue with random spot checks of locker rooms, press boxes, coaches booths, and in-stadium communication systems such as the coach-to-quarterback radios.

“All of us in the league realize how important competitive integrity is,” said Rich McKay, Atlanta Falcons president and co-chairman of the NFL’s competition committee. “And so if we need a fresh look at it to make sure that from an enforcement standpoint we step up, all of us would view that as a positive.

“Now how you go about that, you’ve got to talk through. There are going to be many hours of talking to make sure that we get that part of it right.”

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sam.farmer@latimes.com