5 days ago
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Nearly four years after the lawsuit was first filed, a key threshold question is moving toward a final answer.
The NFL has filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court as to the question of whether the civil action filed in February 2022 by former Dolphins coach (and current Vikings defensive coordinator) Brian Flores against the NFL, the Dolphins, the Giants, the Broncos, and the Texans will be resolved in court, or in arbitration.
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The specific legal question presented to the Supreme Court is this: "Whether an arbitration agreement governing disputes in a professional sports league is categorically unenforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act because it designates the league commissioner as the default arbitrator and permits the commissioner to develop arbitral procedures."
The NFL has wisely narrowed the question, given that the reasoning (if applied throughout corporate America) would empower other companies to attempt to rig the in-house arbitration process by putting employment disputes in the hands of the CEO. Still, the league's position is clear — it wants the Commissioner to retain power over disputes involving the NFL and the various teams that have hired and that handsomely compensate the Commissioner.
The 25-page document is the first step in an effort to persuade the Supreme Court to take up the case. Of the many petitions it receives each year, few are accepted.
More time will pass as the Supreme Court considers whether to take the case. Even more time will pass if the Supreme Court grants the petition.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit invalidated the NFL's arbitration provision, concluding that the procedure lacks independence. (And it does.) The Supreme Court, if it takes the case, will decide once and for all whether it's legitimate for the NFL (and any sports league) to put its Commissioner in charge of claims made against the NFL.
It's fundamentally unfair to delegate those powers to someone whose connection to one side of a legal fight is so obvious. Frankly, no Commissioner should want to be expected to set aside their clear self-interests in an effort to dispense justice in an objective way.
But this has been the league's practice, for years. It desperately wants to run its own business. It desperately hopes to hold the gavel when it comes to deciding whether the legal claims against it are valid.
It's a bad way to do business. It's now for the Supreme Court to decide whether it's a good way, or a bad way, to apply the laws of the United States.
English (US) ·