Brian Flores isn’t the only one responsible for the implosion of the NFL’s effort to force all claims against it into arbitration controlled by Commissioner Roger Goodell. Jon Gruden has had a big role, too.
Gruden, through a last-ditch effort to sway the Nevada Supreme Court to see things his way, won the right to keep his case in court. And the NFL did not attempt to appeal the final ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
As to Gruden’s case, that ends the issue. The case will play out in Nevada. Which will include, absent a dismissal or settlement, a trial in open court.
The league’s decision to punt on an appeal may have something to do with the fact that the NFL’s argument as to Gruden was based on a flimsy, disingenuous effort to cram Gruden’s claims into an obscure provision of the NFL Constitution & Bylaws. The league presumably decided that it wasn’t worth trying to get the Supreme Court first to take up the case and second to see it the NFL’s way.
Gruden, as a result, has the tiger tight by the tail. He reportedly wants to “burn the NFL’s house down.” Unless and until the league makes him a financial offer he can’t refuse, Gruden will have every effort to expose who leaked emails that engineered his ouster during the 2021 season.
And that continues to be the biggest issue in the case. It’s not about Gruden. It’s about the fact that someone undermined the integrity of the 2021 NFL season by taking out Gruden not before or after but during the campaign.
Without Gruden, the Raiders got to the playoffs and nearly beat the Bengals — who got to the Super Bowl and nearly beat the Rams. How differently would the year have gone if Gruden had been taken out?
That’s the point to remember as the case unfolds. Yes, the emails he sent while not employed by any NFL team were not good. (Like, you know, the emails Steve Tisch sent while owning the Giants.) But they knew about Gruden’s emails before the season started. He could have been targeted then.
Instead, someone waited until the season had begun. The effort impacted Gruden and the Raiders and their fans and the integrity of the entire season.
If nothing else, everyone who cares about pro football needs to know who did it. Gruden and his lawyers now have the chance to do that.