Earlier this year, the NFL put the kibosh on Tony Romo’s fantasy football event in Las Vegas, and infuriated Romo and the fantasy event’s organizers. They are now suing the league.
No one was quite sure why the event was canceled, according to the Dallas Morning News, but the location of the event, in a casino, was the rationale the league. Romo doesn’t seem to find that an acceptable excuse:
“It’s like when you’re in high school and you don’t get invited to the party, it makes you feel bad,” Romo said last month. “If they really wanted to just be a part of it, all they had to do was call and ask. It would have been a lot easier than going about the process the way they did.”
Approximately 100 professional football players were scheduled to show up to the event, including Julio Jones, Alshon Jeffery, to newly resigned Dez Bryant and The Gronk. The lawsuit argues the league canceled the event to inflict the most damage to the event and its organizers:
But “in early June, the NFL had an abrupt change of heart due, likely to the success experienced by the NFFC,” says the complaint. “On June 3, 2015, less than five weeks before the event was to take place, the NFL began to threaten and harass players who had committed to appear at the event. Specifically, the NFL threatened player fines and suspensions if the players abided by the terms of their appearance contracts with the NFFC. By waiting until the last minute to take this position, the NFL ensured they could inflict the maximum negative impact on the NFFC.”
Romo and company allege the motive behind shutting down the event was about the league not having a financial stake in it.
“The suit says this wasn’t about gambling, since “no gambling would take place at the event [and] children were allowed and encouraged to attend the event.” Instead, says the suit, the league wanted to shut down something in which it didn’t have a stake, simple as that.”
Either way, this is not a good look for the league with one quarterback is suing the league, while another waits in the wings to do the same.
(Via Dallas Morning News)
