A group of NFL team owners have sent Jerry Jones a cease-and-desist warning and threatened to “punish him” if he keeps at his quest to block commissioner Roger Goodell’s contract negotiations, according to a report from the New York Times. Jones has recently been butting heads with the six owners who serve on the league’s compensation committee over his efforts to derail Goodell’s contract extension, and this new legal threat comes shortly after the committee booted Jones from his non-voting position last week.
The committee could potentially punish Jones by stripping the Cowboys of draft picks, fining Jones or reportedly even suspending him—the funniest possible outcome, since Jones is a power-hungry jackal who lords his status as shadow commissioner over the rest of the league. The committee’s members (owners of the Chiefs, Falcons, Giants, Patriots, Steelers and Texans) are some of the most powerful people in the NFL, and after a conference call today, they released the following statement affirming their support for a five-year extension for Goodell:
The committee is continuing its work towards finalizing a contract extension with the commissioner. The negotiations are progressing and we will keep ownership apprised of the negotiations as they move forward. We do not intend to publicly comment on our discussions.
The Times reports that owners are mad that Jones has tried to hijack the system in an effort to punish Goodell for his six-game suspension of star running back Ezekiel Elliott, and they’re also mad at him for maybe getting Papa John to fart out some nonsense about anthem protests hurting pizza sales. The owners want Goodell to accept a non-guaranteed contract with performance incentives and bonuses, which he was reportedly “furious” about, and Jones wants the commissioner’s pay reduced so badly beyond that that he’s threatened a lawsuit of his own over the subject.
As it stands, Jones doesn’t technically have the ability to flex his muscles and get his way in contract negotiations—all NFL owners voted unanimously in May to allow the compensation committee to negotiate the terms of the deal with Goodell. If Jones wants to continue fighting this fight, he’ll have to do so knowing he could potentially hurt his team’s on-field future.
[NYT]