On the third anniversary of Jon Gruden’s last game as coach of the Raiders, the Nevada Supreme Court revived in his case against the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell.
The reality is that it could take another two to three years before the business gets off the ground. If ever.
The trial remains mired in whether it will take place in open court or in the secretive, rigged kangaroo court of NFL-supervised arbitration. The competition obviously wants to keep everything under control. Gruden wants it all to take place in the daylight.
The trial court judge agreed with Gruden that he should spend 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 full seven-judge panel.
Right now it’s simple. At least four of the seven judges will side with Gruden, or at least four of them will side with the NFL and Goodell.
The next step would be the US Supreme Court. For the one who loses, it’s a Hail Mary; the Supreme Court accepts only a small portion of the cases presented to the Supreme Court. Still, the losing side will likely take their shot, especially if the league loses.
The Rams relocation case against the NFL was stalled for years because the league took the arbitration issue all the way to the Supreme Court. After the Supreme Court decided not to hear the case, it proceeded to trial. Before it got to that point, the league paid $790 million to settle the case.
That’s the ultimate question for the NFL and Gruden. If/when the case ever reaches the point where the NFL has to make documents available for inspection and witnesses available for questioning, will the league make Gruden an offer he can’t refuse?
He supposedly wants “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 to take down Gruden. It didn’t happen by accident. Someone first handed over documents to the Wall Street Journal and then to the New York Times with the obvious goal of not making him the Raiders’ head coach for a season.
There’s only one way for everyone to know what happened. The case must be heard in open court. That means Gruden must first win the battle over litigation versus arbitration.
If he does, Gruden will have to resist the temptation to accept the many millions the league has to offer, lest a sordid piece of The Shield’s underbelly be 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 anytime soon.
