NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell asked a Louisiana federal court for an additional three weeks, until July 5, to reply to a defamation lawsuit filed against him by Saints LB Jonathan Vilma, a move Goodell quickly opposed. The move comes as the same court turned down Vilma's lawyer's petition to represent him in the court, citing incomplete information. The court statement said, “The applicant attorney’s Certification ... does not state under oath whether any criminal charges have ever been instituted against him. ... Furthermore, the Certification is unclear as to whether the sanctions and discipline he was subject to in 2008 constitutes the only instance in which disciplinary proceedings were instituted against him.” Vilma’s lawyer, Peter Ginsberg, said that the matter “would be addressed immediately.” Despite getting turned down by the court, Ginsberg filed Vilma's objection to Goodell's extension request. Vilma is suing Goodell for comments the NFL released alleging the linebacker had a central role in the bounty scandal (Daniel Kaplan, SportsBusiness Journal).
WHERE’S THE BEEF? USA TODAY’s Jarrett Bell writes the NFLPA has a “legit beef in demanding Goodell reveal more of the evidence he used to slam the players” in the Saints' bounty scandal, but “stripping the commissioner of the essential hammer to keep law and order is over the top.” Besides, the NFLPA should have “fought for this during labor talks.” The odds Goodell will “lose this legal skirmish seem long” (USA TODAY, 5/30). SI.com’s Peter King wrote, “I'd love to see the NFL have to defend what it did in the stupidly named ‘uncapped year,’ which actually was nothing of the sort. But how can the union win a legal challenge after it signed a document saying it wouldn't make a legal challenge for any claim known or unknown when it signed it? Makes no sense to me” (SI.com, 5/28). In DC, Sally Jenkins wrote Goodell is “winning” because he “hasn’t met a player or an issue he couldn’t beat with a superior gaze.” Fans have to admit that he is “a success as NFL commissioner.” Jenkins: "Name an issue Goodell hasn't prevailed on. ... While players stampede around filing lawsuits and braying that Goodell is a tyrant, the commissioner is as coolly responsive as a marble bust. Goodell is winning his battles not just in litigation, but in appearances and messaging” (WASHINGTON POST, 5/25).
MATTER OF TRUST: ESPN.com’s Andrew Brandt wrote the relationship between the NFL and the NFLPA “has never been more toxic, even more than during last year's lockout.” At the “heart of the discord is a palpable lack of trust between the leaders for each side,” Goodell and NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith. Goodell is “understated, with public comments on task yet unrevealing,” while Smith is “bombastic, with inflammatory language for effect.” Goodell is a “businessman maneuvering discreetly in private; Smith is a litigator perpetually addressing the jury.” Their predecessors, Paul Tagliabue and Gene Upshaw, “built a close connection recognizing they would have mutual needs along the way.” Brandt wrote, “There has been nothing to suggest the sense of cooperation that Tagliabue and Upshaw had. Indeed, Smith bristles at references to the friendliness of that relationship, maintaining that the players need a more aggressive posture toward management” (ESPN.com, 5/29). St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Bryan Burwell said Goodell and Smith “are fighting again, and that’s actually a good thing.” Burwell: “There’s a long and justifiable history of distrust between the players and the owners, including this latest union lawsuit charging the NFL with collusion. ... But the trouble is, the players think it’s a fair fight and it’s not because they don’t even realize that Goodell’s been laying the seeds for this particular battle long before the players even saw the first swing coming." More Burwell: "Despite plenty of circumstantial evidence that the owners colluded to create a salary cap in 2010 when there wasn’t supposed to be one, there’s a specific clause in the CBA that says the union can’t sue them for it. This is like the pre-nup agreement from hell. So no, this isn’t much of a fight. It’s just a game, with the owners playing world-class chess while the players are just playing Yahtzee” (“The Sports Reporters,” ESPN, 5/27).
PICK YOUR BATTLES: In Boston, Greg Bedard wrote, “A little free advice to the NFLPA: Pick your battles. You need to debate knee and thigh pads? Seriously? If you fight everything, how is anyone supposed to know when something is really important? We get it; taking on Roger Goodell wins points with the players. But does it always serve the players to do so?” (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/27).
