The NFL "decreed" Thursday that Redskins President John
Kent Cooke and his staff "remain in charge of the team in
what appears to be a growing battle over control of the
franchise's operations between Cooke and the trustees of his
late father's estate," according to Thomas Heath of the
WASHINGTON POST. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue sent a
two-page letter to the estate's six trustees, advising "that
they should not make any change or restrict in any way John
Cooke's current status or authority to manage the Redskins
without prior discussion with him or without his approval."
A statement issued by the league said Tagliabue responded
"after learning that the trustees ... recently denied
management the authority to re-sign certain players," namely
QB Trent Green. Attorneys for the trustees, Richard Cass
and James Schwab, said the NFL acted "rashly," and they
issued a statement saying, "In no way did the trustees
prevent the Washington Redskins from signing any player to a
contract. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply false."
Prospective Redskins Owner Howard Milstein met with
Tagliabue yesterday "for about an hour," but declined
comment on the league's intervention. Meanwhile, the NFL
canceled its owners meeting scheduled for Tuesday in
Atlanta, "making it likely" that its owners meeting in March
in Phoenix is the earliest possible date for league approval
of the sale (WASHINGTON POST, 2/12). In DC, Michael Wilbon
writes that the NFL needs to "stop jerking Milstein and
[Daniel] Snyder around, and either approve them as owners or
tell them and everybody else why not" (WASH. POST, 2/12).
