On the third anniversary of Jon Gruden’s final game coaching the Raiders, the Nevada Supreme Court breathed new life into his case against the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell.
The reality is that it might take another two or three years to get the case off square one. If it ever does.
The litigation continues to be caught up in the question of whether it will proceed in open court or in the secret, rigged, kangaroo court of NFL-controlled arbitration. The league, obviously, wants to keep everything under its thumb. Gruden wants it all to play out in the light of day.
The trial-court judge agreed with Gruden that he should have his day(s) in court. A three-judge panel of the Nevada Supreme Court found for the NFL.
Now, the Nevada Supreme Court has decided to grant Gruden’s request for a rehearing of the case before the entire seven-justice panel.
It’s simple at this point. At least four of the seven justices will side with Gruden, or at least four of them will side with the NFL and Goodell.
The next step would be the U.S. Supreme Court. For whoever loses, it’s a Hail Mary; the Supreme Court accepts only a small sliver of the cases presented to it. Still, the losing party will likely shoot its shot — especially if the league loses.
The Rams relocation case against the NFL was bogged down for years because the league took the arbitration issue all the way to the Supreme Court. After the Supreme Court decided not to take up the case, it moved toward trial. Before it got there, the league paid out $790 million to settle the case.
That’s the eventual question for the NFL and Gruden. If/when the case ever gets to the point where the NFL must make documents available for inspection and witnesses available for interrogation, will the league make Gruden an offer he can’t refuse?
He supposedly wants to “burn [the NFL’s] house down.” That’s easy to say, unless and until they offer him enough to build his own personal Taj Mahal.
Not many people had access to the emails that were strategically leaked in order to take Gruden out. It didn’t happen accidentally. Someone handed documents first to the Wall Street Journal and then to the New York Times with the obvious goal of making him not the head coach of the Raiders, during a season.
There’s only one way for everyone to know what happened. The case needs to play out in open court. Which means that Gruden first needs to win the battle over litigation vs. arbitration.
If he does, Gruden will need to resist the temptation to accept however many millions the league will offer in order to avoid having a sordid sliver of the underbelly of The Shield exposed for all to see. Will Gruden be able to resist and seek the truth? Or will he take the money and run?
If we ever find out, it won’t happen any time soon.
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