NFL denies report Jerry Jones has impeded Roger Goodell contract extension talks
The NFL continues to strongly deny an ESPN report that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had attempted to slow down the process of extending the contract of commissioner Roger Goodell.
NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said Monday that the commissioner still has the support of owners on disciplinary matters. Jones, though not formally a member of the league’s compensation committee, has been involved with that process “for months.”
“On this case, going back many months, Mr. Jones expressed an interest in this and participated in this in a very positive way in this process,” Lockhart said.
Lockhart referred further to an interview Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, the chairman of compensation committee, did with Paste BN Sports’ Jarrett Bell on Sunday in which Blank said the committee was in a “good place.”
“We’re working within the structure of what the ownership wanted us to do. Sometimes, it takes a little bit of time, it’s a little bit of a complexity. It’s an important contract for the league, it’s an important contract for the commissioner,” Blank said Sunday night. “Jerry’s been positive, as have all the owners on the committee. It takes time to work through some issues, questions and things of that nature. But we’re in a good place.”
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Jones is one of the NFL’s most powerful owners and has long been one of Goodell’s allies. But the timing of Goodell’s contract negotiations (his current deal expires in 2019) coincides with a massive battle between the league and the NFL Players Association over the discipline of Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott. Goodell suspended Elliott six games for a violation of the personal conduct policy after conducting a year-long investigation into an allegation of domestic violence.
The players union has argued in court that Goodell and a league-appointed arbitrator violated the collective bargaining agreement in the way the suspension was administered and upheld. A district court issued a preliminary injunction that allows Elliott to play, and the league was denied a stay on Monday.
While the Elliott case has paired Jones with the union against Goodell, Lockhart said in general, owners maintain support for Goodell’s power to discipline players for off-field issues.
“By in large there has been strong support for both the adoption of the personal conduct policy, we are now about two and a half years into that, and the way that discipline has been handed out and enforced,” Lockhart said. “Obviously when it’s some other team, as opposed to your own, you often have a slightly view of it because it’s human nature to back the player in question in some of these cases. But overall there is very strong support, not only for the policy that is tougher on particular issues, but also for the way it was dispensed.”
Follow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones.
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