Goodell-Jones Feud Escalates As NFL Accuses Cowboys Owner Of "Conduct Damaging To The League"

The NFL has decided to escalate its growing feud with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones by alleging that his efforts to "sabotage contract negotiations" with commissioner Roger Goodell is tantamount to conduct that is "detrimental to the league"s best interests."  Ironically, as the Wall Street Journal points out, proving that an owner"s conduct is "detrimental to the league" is exactly what the NFL would have to prove in order to fine Jones and/or impose other penalties on him or his team.

The NFL accused Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones of trying to sabotage its contract negotiations with commissioner Roger Goodell, calling his conduct “detrimental to the league’s best interests.”

 

That language, included in a letter sent to Jones’s attorney on Wednesday and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, escalates a growing conflict between the league and one of its most powerful owners.

 

The tension has grown so severe that the topic of removing Jones has been discussed by at least some owners, according to three people familiar with the matter. That type of drastic action would require the league showing conduct detrimental to the league—which is exactly the language the league used in its November letter to Jones’s attorney, David Boies.

As the New York Times notes, Jones" relationship with Goodell and the NFL has soured since Goodell suspended the Cowboys’ star running back, Ezekiel Elliott, in mid-August.  After the suspension, Jones seemingly retaliated by trying to slow discussions about the commissioner’s new pay package, which the owners on the compensation committee had been working on for months.

Jones has said in recent weeks that he has only been trying to increase the transparency of the contract negotiations and give more owners a voice in the process. Jones voted along with every other owner in May to approve an extension, but he has said that much has changed since then and that Goodell’s new contract should reflect these issues, which include the protests during the national anthem at N.F.L. games.

 

But two weeks ago, Jones, a nonvoting member of the compensation committee, escalated the dispute when he threatened to sue the league and the six owners on the committee if they did not bend to his will.

Not surprisingly, in a radio interview yesterday, Jones was dismissive of his risk of being banished from the league and described any chatter about his ouster as “ridiculous.”

Meanwhile, as the silly bickering and political posturing continues in the NFL, fans are increasingly sending the signal that they"ve had just about enough...as evidenced by Monday Night Football this past week posting the 4th worst ratings in ESPN history...perhaps it"s time to take the hint?

Blowback? NFL Ticket Sales Crash 17.9% As Owners Lose Control Of Players

Probably just a coincidence... or just transitory, but The online ticket reseller TickPick told The Washington Examiner that sales have dropped 17.9 percent, far more than the usual Week Three fall...

• 17.9 percent decrease in NFL orders this week compared to the previous week.


• Last year the drop was 10.8 percent in orders on Monday & Tuesday following Week Three games.

"We have seen a massive decrease in NFL ticket purchases this past week in comparison to years past. Week 3 seems to usually have less ticket orders than week 2, but this year ticket purchases are down more than 7 percent from this time last year," said TickPick"s Jack Slingland.

"While we can"t specify if this decrease is due to the president"s comments, player and owner protests, play on the field, or simply the continued division of consumer"s media attention, the conversation around the NFL this week has focused on the president"s comments as well as the players" and owners" reaction. As viewers continue to abandon their NFL Sunday habits, both the number of ticket sales and the purchase price of tickets will drop," he told us.

And despite orders from The NFL that players will stand for the National Anthem this week, The Hill reports that at least three Miami Dolphins players (Julius Thomas, Michael Thomas, & Kenny Stills) took a knee during the playing of the national anthem Sunday.

Saints players took a knee before the anthem began, but then stood as it was played.

But as ESPN reports, NFL owners are struggling to retain control of their players...

"It certainly was my takeaway that the commissioner was looking for a way for the protests to end," DeMaurice Smith (NFL Players Association executive director) said Friday when asked about his 30-minute conversation with Goodell (NFL commissioner), while declining to offer specifics about what was discussed. Goodell declined to comment, but a league source did not dispute Smith"s account.

"Knowing the league the way I know the league, they are first and foremost concerned about the impact on their business," Smith said. "That"s always their first concern. I mean, who are we kidding?"

Nobody was kidding when many of the NFL"s highest-profile owners, including Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots and Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, expressed concerns last week that the optics of hundreds of players kneeling, sitting or remaining in the locker room during the playing of the national anthem had alienated many fans at a particularly perilous moment for the NFL.

TV ratings for many of this year"s games have continued a slide that began last season; some league sponsors have grown skittish about the backlash; and most surveys have shown that a majority of NFL fans are turned off by the politicization of the game.

To the commissioner"s suggestion that the protests should end, Smith said,

"My only response was, "I don"t have the power to tell our players what to do." ... At the end of the day, this is a group of players who are exercising their freedom.

There is no room for me to snap my fingers and tell our players, "It"s time for you to give up a freedom." Just the idea offends me. It"s almost as if the players are being asked, "What"s it going to take for you to stop asking to be free or to be treated like an American?""

Early on, one of the players pointedly told the assembled owners -- in particular Kraft, who this year gave his longtime friend Trump a Super Bowl 51 champions" ring -- "We know a lot of you are in with Trump. This meeting is going on because the players think that some of the people that they work for are with his overall agenda, and that"s not in the players" favor."

"We can"t just tell them to stop," Goodell said of the players" protests.

Many owners immediately argued otherwise.

"We need to find a way where Trump doesn"t win," one said, and that meant using leverage as employers to end the protests.

Another said, "We"ll get our guys in line."

Political infighting contonues to stink up the place...

Some owners were angry that Joe Lockhart, the NFL"s executive vice president of communications who worked as President Bill Clinton"s press secretary, had told reporters on a Monday conference call that the players" words and actions on the subjects of police brutality and racism were "what real locker room talk is."

It was a brazen shot at Trump, who was captured in a 2005 video talking, in explicit terms, about grabbing women by their vaginas but later dismissed the video"s contents as "locker room banter."

Owners, many of whom had supported Trump and seven of whom had donated at least $1 million to him, felt that Lockhart had unnecessarily politicized the league"s response.

One owner barked angrily at Lockhart, who declined to comment about the matter, echoing a sentiment that most of them -- especially Jones -- shared: Nobody wanted to engage in a political mud fight with the White House, even if "they were all pissed at the president," a league source said.

As ESPN concludes, by the end of their meetings, the players and owners weren"t as unified as they would later publicly state, but as one owner says, "We"ve gotten out of crisis management and into, "How do we do this correctly?" There was a chance that we didn"t deal with it correctly -- and it had passed."

Perhaps after this week"s collapse in ticket sales - and potentially a few more lost advertising dollars - the owners may have some different ideas on how to control their players in their place of work.

Trump Escalates War With NFL In Early Tweetstorm

Update:  Proving that he was just getting warmed up earlier this morning with his latest rant against the NFL, Trump now seems to want "#StandForOurAnthem" to go viral.

#StandForOurAnthem

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2017

* * *

After igniting an NFL firestorm over the weekend with a series of tweetstorms bashing players who refused to stand for the national anthem (something we covered in detail here), Trump is at it again this morning with new tweets highlighting the disgruntled crowds that booed the kneeling players. 

"Many people booed the players who kneeled yesterday (which was a small percentage of total). These are fans who demand respect for our Flag!"

"The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race. It is about respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem. NFL must respect this!"

Many people booed the players who kneeled yesterday (which was a small percentage of total). These are fans who demand respect for our Flag!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2017

The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race. It is about respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem. NFL must respect this!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2017

Some of the loudest such "boos" came for the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium when a number of Patriots kneeled for the anthem.

Meanwhile, Tom Brady responded to Trump"s continued attacks this morning saying that he "disagrees" with the President and thinks his tweets are "just divisive."  Presumably, that means that Brady is of the opinion that exploiting his star power to make a political statement is not equally divisive?  Per WEEI:

“Yeah, I certainly disagree with what he said. I thought it was just divisive," Brady said. "Like I said, I just want to support my teammates. I am never one to say, ‘Oh, that is wrong. That is right.’ I do believe in what I believe in. I believe in bringing people together and respect and love and trust. Those are the values that my parents instilled in me. That is how I try and live every day. I have been blessed to be in locker rooms with guys all over the United States over the course of my career. Some of my great friends are from Florida, Virginia, New York, Montana, Colorado, Texas. The one thing about football is it brings so many guys together — guys you would never have the opportunity to be around. Whether it was in college, and all the way into the pros. We’re all different, we’re all unique. That is what makes us all special.”

"Hopefully it brings everyone together. I think that is what unity and love — like I said after the game, those are the things that concern me. When you’re in a locker room full of 53 players, you’re working to a common goal. You support the guys that you play with and you support your coaches, coaches support you. You just do the best you can do. You’re navigating through life. These things aren’t easy. Everyone deals with different challenges in their life and you respect everyone’s opinions and views. You don’t have to agree with everything. It’s hard to agree with your own wife on everything from day-to-day. I have so much respect for my teammates and what we’re trying to accomplish. Hopefully we can keep marching toward this end of the season, keep making improvements, get better and win more football games.”

Brady said he heard the boo"s during and after the anthem from some in the crowd and said people can do what they want to do.

“Yeah, I did," he said. "No, I think everyone has the right to do whatever they want to do. If you don’t agree, that is fine. You can voice your disagreement, I think that is great. It’s part of our democracy. As long as it is done in a peaceful, respectful way, that is what our country has been all about.”

On the other hand, and not terribly surprisingly, NASCAR"s strong condemnation of protesting the national anthem, which Richard Petty said would earn anyone on his team an immediate dismissal, drew praise from the White House.  Per the Associated Press:

It appeared no drivers, crew or other team members participated in a protest during the national anthem to start the NASCAR Cup series race Sunday in Loudon, New Hampshire. Several team owners and executives had said they wouldn’t want anyone in their organizations to protest.

Richard Childress, who was Dale Earnhardt’s longtime team owner, said of protesting, “It’ll get you a ride on a Greyhound bus.” Childress says he told his team that “anybody that works for me should respect the country we live in. So many people gave their lives for it. This is America.”

Hall of Fame driver Richard Petty’s sentiments took it a step further, saying: “Anybody that don’t stand up for the anthem oughta be out of the country. Period. What got ’em where they’re at? The United States.”

When asked if a protester at Richard Petty Motorsports would be fired, he said, “You’re right.”

So proud of NASCAR and its supporters and fans. They won"t put up with disrespecting our Country or our Flag - they said it loud and clear!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2017

Of course, it"s only a matter of time until we see if this controversy caused any dips in ratings for the increasingly politicized NFL.

The Sure Thing

Submitted by Michael Lebowitz via 720Global.com,

The Sure Thing

The New England Patriots pulled off a stunning come-from-behind victory in Super Bowl LI, and one that was truly unprecedented in American football. Throughout modern NFL history, playoff teams that had a 19 point lead or greater in the fourth quarter, as the Atlanta Falcons did, were 93-0. A Patriots comeback was deemed virtually impossible by the odds-makers. There is an important lesson here worth considering. The Patriots improbable victory follows a variety of other unlikely, but surprising high-profile events in the past several months, some of which will have far greater impact on our lives than we may realize.

The British referendum to leave the Euro

Last summer, the odds of Brexit gaining a majority vote briefly dipped below 5% in the days preceding the vote. In a premonition to the upcoming U.S. election, The Sun newspaper in London mistakenly announced that the head of the Brexit campaign, Nigel Lafarge, conceded to the “Remain” vote.  

Graph and Newspaper cover courtesy: Hypermind.com and The Sun respectively

Leicester City’s improbable Premier League Championship

Leicester City entered the 2016 Premier League season as a 5,000 to 1 underdog to win the league championship. Fortunately for Leicester City, the existence of long odds bear no direct influence on outcomes as they went on to win the Premier League Championship. For the sake of comparison, the worst team in the NFL, the Cleveland Browns who finished the 2016 season with one win, started the year with odds of 200-1 to win the Super Bowl. According to odds-makers, the Browns were 25 times more likely to win the Super Bowl than Leicester City was to win the Premier League Championship.

Image Courtesy: ESPN

The U.S. Presidential Election

In the days leading up to the U.S Presidential election, Donald Trump was a serious underdog with only a 20% chance of winning the election.  Even after some states had closed their polls and results were trickling in, a Hillary Clinton victory was all but a foregone conclusion. Newsweek infamously released their upcoming issue with a picture of Hillary Clinton under the words “Madam President.”

Graph and magazine cover courtesy: New York Times and Newsweek respectively

Super Bowl LI

With the Patriots trailing 28-3 mid-way through the third quarter, the odds of a Patriots Super Bowl victory were placed at 0.3% or 333 to 1. The Falcons were a virtual lock to win. The graph below charts the progression of the in-game odds for each respective team winning. The gray line highlights the point where the Falcons had the greatest chance of winning.

Graph Courtesy: Matthew Cascio @mattcascio  

Why?

Given that “impossible” events are seemingly occurring with regularity, we must ask, “Why?”

Maybe another question that should be entertained is why the favorite, at any point in the contest, is given such commanding status? Given what we have seen out of Tom Brady in his illustrious career, why would experts count him out with a seemingly eternal 23:29 remaining to play in the biggest game of the biggest sport in America?

To apply this concept to another great global sport, do U.S. equity market valuations imply similar false confidence in future outcomes for the pace of earnings and economic growth?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average just crossed the 20,000 mark with great fanfare. Immediately following the celebration, the media and market “experts” began discussing the next benchmarks they expect to fall, Dow 25,000 and 30,000.  Like those supporting the aforementioned clear favorites, everyone seems to be caught up in euphoria and the absolute certainty of an outcome. Like the attitudes that prevailed in 1929 and 1999, market experts appear to be convinced that the equity markets are moving in one direction, higher.

Spot VIX, an indicator that conveys confidence or concern about future equity price moves, is near-record lows. This implies tremendous confidence that stock prices will indeed move higher. Conversely, however, lesser followed VIX futures currently trade at historically steep premiums which suggest more than a few market participants harbor anxieties about the future.

We have been vocal in our thoughts about the confluence of historically high valuations, economic headwinds and the uncertainties of a new administration. It is hard for us to get on a bandwagon that is not supported by fundamentals. We feel like the sole Patriots fan listening to everyone around us debate whether Falcon’s quarterback Matt Ryan or star receiver Julio Jones will be the MVP.

Like all of the instances listed above, the odds are clearly wrong. The fundamentals governing each event were carelessly neglected, and probabilities radically miscalculated, sending the experts and their followers, in the wrong direction. While sports or politics may not be your thing, we urge you to pay attention.

The odds of equity market victory are very near 100%.  What could go wrong?