Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senator Arlen Specter said he will continue to pursue information related to the New England Patriots' signal-stealing after meeting with National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss the issue.

"There's no doubt it had an impact on the games," Specter said yesterday at a televised news conference about New England's taping of signals. "It is hard to tell what games were involved with the destruction of the notes and tapes, and there's no really valid reason that was given for the destruction."

Two days before the Feb. 3 Super Bowl, Specter, a Republican from Pennsylvania, publicly questioned the league's decision to destroy videotapes confiscated from the Patriots on Sept. 20 after the team was caught recording the New York Jets' defensive signals during New England's season-opening win on Sept. 9.

Goodell told reporters after the meeting in Washington that he didn't regret ordering the tapes to be destroyed.

"I think it was the right thing to do, and I told the senator that," Goodell said in the televised interview. "There was no purpose to them. We had a violation which we detected, disclosed it, the team admitted it and we took unprecedented discipline."

Goodell fined Patriots coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and docked the team $250,000 for the infraction. The Patriots also lost a first-round draft pick.

Specter also said that he encouraged the NFL to provide complete legal indemnification for former Patriots' video assistant Matt Walsh for information or materials Walsh can provide about the team.

Conversation With Walsh

"I told him that I hope that they would make an arrangement with Matt Walsh, through his attorney, that would enable us to have a conversation with him very promptly," Specter said.

Goodell said he has not heard from Walsh after offering indemnification whereby "he has to tell the truth and he has to return anything he took improperly."

The NFL's request to speak with Walsh came after a Boston Herald report that a member of the Patriots' video staff taped the St. Louis Rams during a pre-game walk-through before the teams' meeting in the 2002 Super Bowl.

After the 2003 season, New England beat Carolina to claim its second championship in three years, and successfully defended its title the next season against Philadelphia, Specter's home town.

"There was confirmation that there has been taping since 2000, when Belichick took over," Specter said.

Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that a federal statute protecting against theft of trade secrets, and the league's antitrust exemption, make this an appropriate government investigation.

"I think Congress has a very definite interest, because football has a unique privilege by having an antitrust exemption," Specter said. "We have a right to have honest football games that are played by the rules."