The Seattle Seahawks paid the Denver Broncos to win the game

Feb 4, 2014 10:00 GMT  ·  By

The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl XLVIII on Sunday at the MetLife stadium in New Jersey but, according to a new viral report, it wasn’t because they were the best team. In fact, they paid the Denver Broncos off to win the title and the NFL is now investigating the case.

The above is part of a report coming from Huzlers. Given the fact that the Super Bowl is the biggest sporting televised event in history, it’s no wonder that the report is getting a lot of attention online.

There is only one thing wrong with that, though: namely, the fact that Huzlers would best be described as an Onion-type of e-zine. In fact, a disclaimer on the bottom of each page reads that “Huzlers.com is a combination of real shocking news and satire news to keep its visitors in a state of disbelief.”

In other words, it runs fake news: satire or not, it’s not true. However, many media outlets and sports fans missed the above-mentioned disclaimer and took the report for granted. Shortly after the Super Bowl, there was a huge uproar on social media over claims that the game had been rigged, as mentioned in the fake report.

“After The Seattle Seahawks victory over the Denver Broncos at the NFL’s 48th Super Bowl with a final score of 43-8, NFL officials have just discovered that the game was most likely rigged. NFL officials have just found clues that might prove the game was rigged. Officials believe the Broncos intentionally lost the championship in exchange for a large amount of money,” Huzlers wrote.

“Super Bowl referee Terry McAulay told reporters he sensed something strange when he overhead Broncos Quarterback Peyton Manning allegedly asking Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll ‘When are you going to pay up?’. McAulay immediately became suspicious and notified other officials and that’s when it all started,” the report further noted.

As these viral fake / satire pieces go, this one is at least well written. This probably explains why so many people fell for it, being presented in such a manner as to be entirely convincing.

“The NFL are currently investigating the situation and looking for evidence to prove the game was rigged. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters ‘This is like that Chicago White Sox scandal back in 1919, I can’t believe this, they ruined the sport, I just can’t believe it’,” the report also said.

As it turns out, the NFL isn’t investigating claims that the Super Bowl 2014 was rigged because the Seattle Seahawks won fair and square.