Before the Denver Broncos' videotaping incident became public Saturday, owner Pat Bowlen had personally called San Francisco 49ers owner John York to apologize for his team's actions, according to a source familiar with the situation.
And it didn't stop there, according to the source.
Each of the top layers of the Broncos organization called his matching 49ers colleague to apologize.
Broncos COO Joe Ellis personally phoned 49ers team president Jed York to express his apologies. Broncos coach Josh McDaniels called 49ers coach Mike Singletary to express the same sentiment.
The initial call Friday went from Ellis to York, with NFL executive VP Jeff Pash also on the line, listening in.
The two men spoke for close to 15 minutes, spelling out the situation. It marked the first time the 49ers became aware of the incident.
After they had heard about it, the 49ers were not concerned. For one thing, they won the game. For another, their offense is not highly sophisticated to where videotapes of a practice could help another team all that much.
San Francisco was satisfied with Denver's apologies, the league's explanation and it believes the case is closed as well.
The NFL fined the Broncos and McDaniels $50,000 each because the team's video operations director filmed a 49ers practice in London last month, breaking league rules.
An NFL investigation determined Steve Scarnecchia took a six-minute video of a walkthrough session Oct. 30 and presented it that day to McDaniels. The coach declined to view it. Still, the NFL fined both the coach and team because the matter was not promptly reported, as required by the league.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
