The NFL has plenty of open issues at any given time. One issue has been open for a long time, and there’s still no resolution in sight.
When Titans founder Bud Adams passed in 2013, ownership of the team passed to three branches of his family tree in equal amounts. A problem arises from the fact that, with three different groups acquiring equal ownership, no one has clear control of the franchise -- and thus there’s no one to officially represent the franchise in league matters with final say on behalf of the team.
“The issue that we’ve had over the last couple of years was a designation of who was going to represent the club,” Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters on Wednesday in his annual pre-Super Bowl press conference. “That has changed to some extent over the last couple of years. The fundamental aspect of our policy is to make sure that we have an individual who has the ultimate authority over that franchise and can make those decisions, including league-level decisions as well as locally, and it’s clear. It’s clear to the ownership group and it’s also clear to the membership, so that is the issue that the committee has been addressing. They have been in violation in the past. I am hopeful that we’re getting to the point where that is going to be resolved once and for all.”
Although the problem lingers, the NFL has fined the Titans only once for failing to be in compliance. At some point, the NFL needs to draw a line in the sand -- especially since the Titans seem to believe that there’s nothing they need to do to comply with league policies. Indeed, 11 months ago, owner Amy Adams Strunk suggested that she already has the control she supposedly needs.
In early 2016, PFT reported that the Titans had retained an antitrust lawyer in connection with the lingering dispute, a clear warning to the league that, if the Titans are pushed hard enough, litigation could ensue. That approach possibly has caused the league to tread lightly for now, but it’s hard to imagine the league tolerating the failure to comply indefinitely.