The WFT issue is big -- some owners are growing frustrated that so much goodwill is being spent to protect Dan Snyder, an unpopular owner. But it may prove to be small potatoes compared to how the owners’ fraternity is handling the looming St. Louis trial over the Rams’ relocation.
As the two-day meeting was wrapping up, ESPN’s Seth Wickersham produced a highly detailed accountof a contentious executive session with owners and top NFL lawyer Jeff Pash. It emerged that Rams owner Stan Kroenke may try to back out of his promise to indemnify his peers in the St. Louis case. Reaction in the room pitted Jones, a Kroenke defender, against powerhouse owners Robert Kraft of the Patriots and John Mara of the Giants, Wickersham reported.
This issue carries extraordinary stakes. Damages in St. Louis could easily range into the billions of dollars, and as the ESPN story notes, Mara said nobody would have approved the Rams’ move if Kroenke hadn’t agreed to assume the legal risk.
But aside from the specifics, consider the fact that the ESPN story exists at all. People in that room leaked attorney-client privileged information, in detail, within 18 hours of it happening. This comes as speculation continues unabated about the provenance of the Gruden email leaks. Trust is in short supply among the owners right now.
By the way, a Missouri appeals court could rule shortly on the NFL’s last-ditch bid to get the trial moved out of St. Louis. If the league is successful, legal experts think their exposure in that case declines considerably. But they’ve had no luck to date on that argument.
