Jerry Jones said last week that he has decided not to follow through on his threat to sue the NFL over Roger Goodell’s contract extension because the league agreed to allow all of its owners to have input. According to the NFL, Jerry Jones is lying.
In a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said there has been no talk of having all 32 team owners vote on whether or not they agree with the terms of Goodell’s extension. As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes, Lockhart reiterated that the six-owner compensation committee — which was assembled by all 32 owners back in May — holds the power to finalize Goodell’s new deal.
That sounds different from what Jones told Jarrett Bell of USA Today last week.
“I told the committee that I was standing down on legal action because they wanted to get input from all of the owners,” the Dallas Cowboys owner said.
When the NFL’s 32 team owners — Jones included — voted unanimously back in May to extend Goodell’s deal, they also agreed to let six select owners negotiate the terms of the extension. Jones was supposed to be the de-facto seventh member of the committee and act as the leader of the other 26 owners, but things have changed for obvious reasons. Now, he wants the compensation committee to poll the other 26 owners to see if they agree with the terms of Goodell’s extension before finalizing it.
NFL owners will be in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday for committee meetings, and Goodell’s contract will be among the topics discussed. Jones has not been invited to attend.
NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart says Jerry Jones won't be participating in this meeting — since, of course, he's not on the compensation committee https://t.co/aNObY7eatS
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) November 28, 2017
There have been no indications that Jones is going to get his way. While any talk of the NFL taking the so-called “nuclear option” with Jones probably an exaggeration, it seems like Goodell’s new deal is going to be finalized whether Jerry likes it or not.
