Obama Assumes NFL Will Look At Having Refs Control Footballs
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says he's not sure whether the Patriots cheated when they used deflated footballs in the game that got them to the Super Bowl, but says he assumes the NFL will consider giving referees more control of the footballs.
Obama said in a live NBC interview from the White House kitchen about two hours before kickoff Sunday he doesn't think there's any other sport where teams prepare and bring their own game balls.
Obama says he assumes the NFL will figure out how to put referees in charge of the footballs from start to finish "to avoid any of these controversies."
Obama says he thinks the Patriots would have beaten the Colts regardless of the footballs.
But pressed on whether they cheated he said: "I think that if you break the rules then you break the rules."
New England is playing the Seattle Seahawks for the NFL title.
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