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Behind closed doors, Jim Irsay railed against the NFL’s handling of the St. Louis litigation

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After a judge declined to stay Jon Gruden's lawsuit against the NFL of arbitration ruling, Mike Florio and Peter King wonder if the public may finally learn who called the code red on Gruden in the first place.

Jim Irsay has reached an important point in his tenure as an NFL owner. He no longer cares about how his words are received by others.

That attitude publicly manifested itself on Tuesday, with Irsay’s stunning tirade against Commanders owner Daniel Snyder. Privately, Irsay spoke his mind about a different issue.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Irsay delivered pointed comments behind closed doors regarding the handling of the St. Louis relocation litigation. From complaining (accurately) about poorly-drafted documents that gave Rams owner Stan Kroenke a stronger argument to foist responsibility for the settlement onto his partners to questioning the legal strategy regarding the handling of a case that resulted in a payment of nearly $800 million, Irsay once again said what plenty of others have been thinking.

Irsay’s ire could be increased based on the information contained in a new report from Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal. Per Fischer, the details of the deal that results in Kroenke supposedly shouldering the majority of the settlement include the ability to recover roughly $283 million by retaining ticket revenue that ordinarily would be shared with the league. The arrangement lasts for 30 years, which makes the present value of that amount FAR less than $283 million.

But to the extent that someone with the Rams felt compelled to crow about a caveat that reduces Kreonke’s out-of-pocket expense, pointing out that specific detail does nothing to bolster the effort to persuade interested parties that Kroenke finagled a far better outcome than previously disclosed.

It’s unclear whether Irsay knew about this wrinkle. If he didn’t, maybe he’ll have something to say about it.