Jerry Jones Threatens To Sue NFL, Owners Over Roger Goodell’s Contract Extension

Jerry Jones seems prepared to retaliate against Roger Goodell for suspending Ezekiel Elliott by any means necessary.

Jerry Jones fued with Roger Goodell news

The Dallas Cowboys president is reportedly threatening to sue the NFL — and certain fellow team owners — over discussions to extend commissioner Roger Goodell’s contract.

Jones recently said Goodell’s six-game suspension of star running back Elliott — who was banned over a domestic violence incident — was an “overcorrection” on the part of the league’s commissioner for errors Godell has made in the past regarding other players’ misconduct. The Cowboys owner particularly mentioned Goodell’s handling of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, who was also suspended by the team and even arrested in 2014 for assaulting his then-fiancee. Following his indefinite suspension from the NFL, Rice was reinstated after he successfully appealed the decision in federal courts. Rice had sued for $3.529 million in back pay that he would have earned for the final 15 weeks after serving the NFL’s 2-game suspension. A settlement between Rice and the Ravens was reached in January 2015.

Goodell has been in charge of the NFL since September 2006. His contract is set to expire at the end of the 2018 season.

The New York Times reported Thursday: “Jones said in a conference call last Thursday with the six owners — those of the Chiefs, Falcons, Giants, Patriots, Steelers and Texans — that legal papers were drawn up and would be served this Friday if the committee did not scrap or delay its current plans to extend Goodell’s contract.”

Reports also claim Jones has hired David Boies, the attorney who has been defending Harvey Weinstein against multiple sexual harassment claims. In a recent New Yorker piece, NBC anchor Ronan Farrow reported that Boies helped hire a private investigation firm to “attempt to uncover information that would stop the publication of a Times story about Weinstein’s abuses, while his firm was also representing the Times, including in a libel case.”

The Times has cut ties with the firm. Boies has also worked for the NFL, representing the league in federal court in 2011 following the players association’s decertification as a union.

Jones — who has led the Cowboys since 1989 — sued the NFL in the 1990s over sponsorships. His current threat recalls a process undertaken by Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, who successfully sued the league in the 1980s to obtain the right to move his team to Los Angeles.

Jones has also been adamant about forcing players to stand for the national anthem, one of the few and most vocal NFL owners to do so in agreement with President Donald Trump’s stance. However, Jones previously supported the protests: the owner even kneeled beside his players before one game earlier this season. Trump praised Jones for changing his position on the issue.

Caption:TAMPA, FL – NOVEMBER 15: Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones talks with fans during a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium on November 15, 2015 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)