A new report claims Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones continued his trend of being a thorn in Roger Goodell’s side during a call with NFL owners.
There had already been previous reports about Jones not being happy with the idea of extending Goodell’s contract, and ESPN has more information on the situation.
ESPN’s Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter reported the following:
The Cowboys’ Jerry Jones was a leading voice among 17 NFL owners on a conference call Thursday that discussed the possibility of halting commissioner Roger Goodell’s pending contract extension, sources involved with the call told ESPN.
There is a growing difference of opinion among owners about Goodell’s overall performance as commissioner, according to sources. The owners on Thursday’s conference call are generally unhappy with Goodell and the NFL’s front office for a variety of reasons, including the player protests staged during the national anthem, issues regarding the relocation of teams to Los Angeles and the league’s handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence case, according to sources.
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. Jones is the most powerful owner in all of professional sports. Nothing, and I mean nothing, gets done in the NFL without Jones weighing first. The Cowboys are valued at $4.2 billion, which is nearly a billion more than the next closest NFL team.
That is a lot of money, and money buys influence when it comes to sports. Having $4.2 billion as leverage gets Jones a lot of power for NFL decisions. I don’t think there’s any other owner in the NFL that could get rid of Goodell by themselves. Maybe Jones can’t either, but he’s certainly got the best shot. Having the legendary Cowboys owner on your bad side is not good news.
If I were to bet on this situation, I’d be inclined to believe Goodell sticks around a little longer. Just don’t expect his contract to be all gravy. Jones is going to need to walk away from this situation feeling like he got a win.