Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones says he will not sue the league over commissioner Roger Goodell’s pending contract extension, but emphasized that he still wants “accountability” in the process.
Jones made his remarks in a USA Today report Tuesday, one day after the Wall Street Journal reported the NFL’s compensation committee denied his request that the league’s owners be allowed a final vote of approval on Goodell’s extension.
Though he says he won’t sue, Jones told USA Today that he still wants all owners, and not just the NFL’s six-member compensation committee headed by Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, to have input in the negotiations.
“I told the committee that I was standing down on legal action because they wanted to get input from all of the owners,” Jones told USA Today.
Jones had threatened to sue the league if the committee approves an extension, saying it should be reviewed and approved by all owners.
According to Monday’s Wall Street Journal report, the compensation committee told Jones he should drop the threat of a suit, saying his dispute with Goodell “reflects conduct unbefitting an owner and is damaging to the League.”
Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, the chairman of the six-person committee, responded to Jones’ request for a vote by citing a May resolution in which the 32 owners unanimously gave the committee authority to negotiate Goodell’s extension.
In the letter, Blank wrote that Jones was ignoring facts “to satisfy your personal agenda,” according to the Journal.
Sources familiar with the negotiations told ESPN that Goodell’s extension still is on track to be completed at or before the owners’ Dec. 13 meetings in Dallas.
Goodell’s current deal as commissioner is set to expire after the 2018 season.
