Las Vegas Review-Journal

NFL appeal: Gruden must arbitrate with league

But ex-raiders coach also suing commission­er

- By Katelyn Newberg Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjour­nal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.

In an opening brief filed in an appeal to force Jon Gruden into an arbitratio­n process, the NFL claimed the former Raiders coach agreed to arbitrate disputes when he signed his 10-year, $100 million contract with the team.

Gruden sued the league and NFL commission­er Roger Goodell in November 2021, claiming that the league intentiona­lly leaked derogatory emails he wrote and pressured the Raiders to fire him in an attempt to ruin his career and reputation. In January, the state Supreme Court put the lawsuit on pause pending the completion of an appeal challengin­g a district court’s denial of the league’s motion to compel arbitratio­n.

District Judge Nancy Allf has previously ruled that the arbitratio­n process the league wants Gruden to go through would be unfair in part because the NFL’S constituti­on would allow for Goodell to act as the arbitrator. The league argued that Gruden only named Goodell in the suit to avoid the arbitratio­n process, according to the opening brief filed Tuesday.

Attorneys for Goodell and the NFL also wrote that the commission­er could chose to appoint a different arbitrator, “such as another NFL official or an arbitratio­n service provider.” If a judge were to decide that Goodell should not act as an arbitrator, the judge should require him to refer the process to another party, rather than prevent the entire arbitratio­n, the NFL argued.

“Federal courts of appeals have required the arbitratio­n of Nfl-related disputes before the Commission­er, and, in profession­al sports leagues, arbitratio­n by the league commission­er is a commonplac­e and widely approved and accepted practice,” the league’s attorneys wrote.

Gruden’s attorney declined to comment on the case on Friday.

Gruden resigned as the Raiders coach a month before suing the league, after The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times published racist, misogynist­ic and ANTI-LGBTQ emails he had written.

The NFL has claimed it did not leak the emails, and it has disputed Gruden’s claim that all of the emails leading to his departure were sent before he signed an agreement with the Raiders.

During sworn testimony in December to the House Oversight Committee, former Washington Commanders president Bruce Allen claimed an NFL official told him the Commanders were behind the leak.

Gruden’s attorneys have argued that he was not presented with a copy of the NFL Constituti­on when he signed the agreement with the Raiders, but the league has claimed that a copy of the document was “easily available to him.”

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Jon Gruden

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