One of the most significant pieces of litigation against the NFL in years continues to play out in a St. Louis courtroom. And most of the national media continues to look the other way.
Tuesday’s ruling on the NFL’s so-called motion for summary judgment means that, absent a settlement, the lawsuit filed against the league as a result of the relocation of the Rams will go to trial unless it’s settled. And while many are simply shrugging and saying that the case will soon settle, the lawyers representing the plaintiffs surely realize the enhanced value of a settlement to the league given Tuesday’s outcome -- and they surely will be adjusting their demands accordingly.
Think of the trial in A Few Good Men. That case had only one Col. Nathan Jessup. This case will have several, from the Commissioner to every owner who takes the stand. Folks with that amount of wealth, power, and influence simply aren’t wired to defer to any authority other than their own. Absent the kind of aggressive coaching that could prompt them to eventually fire the lawyers who are trying to prepare them to properly hold up under questioning, they will not be good witnesses. They will get frustrated. They will get agitated. They won’t realize they’re being set up to be caught in an inconsistency that will invite the jury to conclude they’re lying. They may blow their stacks and give up the ghost, like Col. Jessup eventually did.
The only way to avoid that is to settle. And that will now be ridiculously expensive. It should be. Apart from the specific nuts and bolts regarding actual financial losses and the like, the plaintiffs have a tiger by the tail. Actually, they have several tigers by the tail. And they have the power to force each of those tigers to surrender their fangs, claws, and stripes and settle into a witness box.
It’s unclear where it will go from here. Maybe the league will pay whatever it takes. Maybe the league has some secret legal strategy up its sleeve to prevent a trial. Maybe the league will offer St. Louis an expansion team as a last-ditch way to get out of this mess.
Regardless, without a settlement there will be a trial. And it will be compelling.
Amazingly, the case has largely been ignored by the national media. While it’s no surprise that NFL Network and NFL.com have given the case third-rail treatment, the fact that they’re owned by the league and housed in the stadium complex Stan Kroenke built when fleeing St. Louis doesn’t make the silence proper or appropriate. If NFL Media wants to be regarded as a legitimate media operation, it must cover this case.
Other national brands are avoiding it, like ESPN.com. After years of strained relations with 345 Park Avenue, it’s no surprise. ESPN has tried hard recently to resurrect its relationship with the league. Although ESPN posted several stories about the case during the early phases of the litigation, it’s been crickets from Bristol as the league has endured multiple significant losses in recent weeks, from a finding that the financial information of the Commissioner and various owners must be disclosed given the possibility of an award of punitive damages to the decision not to move the case to a new county to Tuesday’s monumental conclusion that the case will proceed to a trial in open court.
The league often bristles at adverse coverage or criticism from any of its many business partners. Presumably, owning and operating a media company that always treads lightly on matters involving ownership makes the league expect similar treatment from others.
Still, the NFL can huff and puff all it wants about PFT or anyone else pointing out the existence of the St. Louis case and the potentially serious financial consequences that the league may be facing. None of that will change the fact that, at or about the time the Rams are hosting the Super Bowl in their new L.A. stadium, a judge and jury in Missouri may blow the league’s house down.
