ESPN’s effort to regurgitate and advance (a little bit) the reporting on Cowboys owner Jerry Jones insinuating his way onto the NFL’s Compensation Committee had two tangible new nuggets: (1) the Compensation Committee will have a conference call this week to further discuss the Roger Goodell contract extension; and (2) Jones believes he represents the 25 other owners who currently aren’t on the Compensation Committee.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, that’s simply not correct. While it’s possible some other owners support Jones’ resistance to give Goodell the deal that the rest of the Compensation Committee wants to finalize, Jones definitely is not speaking for all of the 25 owners who aren’t directly involved in the process. Indeed, multiple owners have been calling members of the Compensation Committee and urging them to get the Goodell deal done.
It’s believed by some within the league’s power structure that Jones initially launched his effort to push back against the compensation package being offered to Goodell as leverage against the then-pending Ezekiel Elliott investigation. Given the six-game suspension imposed on Elliott by Goodell, that didn’t work.
Whether Jones is now motivated by revenge or frugality doesn’t matter. He remains opposed to paying Goodell what the Compensation Committee wants to pay him. Some think this is Jones’ way of expressing opposition to Goodell entirely, with the goal to carve up the offer so drastically that Goodell refuses to do the deal and walks away when his current contract expires in 2019.
Ultimately, the Compensation Committee will decide on the terms of the deal. If accepted by Goodell, the package will then be presented to the full ownership for ratification.
It’s typically a rubber-stamp process. Once it gets to that point. First, it needs to get to that point.