Coming into the season, Roger Goodell’s impending contract extension talks were likely well down the list of issues NFL owners would have expected to become extremely difficult. However, with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones doing his best to single-handedly wreck Goodell’s extension as part of Jones’ ongoing feud with the commissioner, things have gotten ugly in the prolonged discussions.
Jones is mad at Goodell for two main reasons. One being Ezekiel Elliott’s six-game suspension for alleged domestic violence, and the other being the league’s handling of the national anthem protests. He has inserted himself into discussions on Goodell’s extension, threatened to sue the league and owners on the compensation committee, and there are some that believe he pushed Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter to come after the NFL.
In any case, Jones has done more than just ruffle feathers around the NFL, he’s outright upset many owners (and, undoubtedly, the commish). The question has been, what can they do to retaliate? There was a report over the weekend that some owners were looking into their most extreme option, which is to follow through with a rule that allows them to vote to force an owner to sell his franchise.
On Tuesday, the New York Times reported the next actual step taken by owners has been to send him a cease-and-desist warning, with threats of punishment if he continues on his crusade against Goodell’s extension.
The warning to Jones, which was issued by the six owners on the N.F.L. compensation committee after the group held a conference call Monday, comes less than two weeks after he threatened to sue the league and the owners on the committee who have been working for months on a new contract for Goodell.
The league could take a range of steps, including fines, docking draft picks and even suspending Jones.
The compensation committee is made up of the Chiefs, Falcons, Giants, Patriots, Steelers and Texans, so there are some heavy-hitters in that group sending Jones this warning. As for how punishments would be handed out, that would be the job of the commissioner, who is apparently wary of doing so without tremendous support from the other owners.
The commissioner would have to impose the penalties, and is reluctant to do so without a groundswell of owners pushing him to take action, according to several people with knowledge of the situation. Punishing Jones might prompt lawsuits and an even messier public fight.
Jones, having already threatened legal action, would undoubtedly fight any kind of suspension or severe punishment handed down on him and the Cowboys with further court battles, as the Times suggests. What makes the entire situation so interesting is how close we seem to a fissure between the normally tight ownership fraternity, and the timing of this, with just a few years before an impending lockout and new CBA negotiations.
