I was delighted to join an amicus brief filed last week by Professor Imre Szalai in the Flores v NFL (and several teams) bemoaning the current state of the NFL arbitration system where Commissioner Roger Goodell has the final say. You might recall that former coach Brian Flores has sued several NFL teams for racial discrimination in their respective hiring practices. The courts have split his claims–some teams subject to arbitration and others not–in a way that has both him and the NFL appealing the rulings to the Second Circuit.
The brief from law professors makes the now familiar claim that having the CEO of an organization be the final decisionmaker in a supposedly neutral process is problematic. This is contrary to every neutral organization’s best practices and has the possibility for dangerous precedent. But all of this is old news to many academics–what was particularly gratifying to me this time around was the correct understanding–and outrage–from sports reporters who are now teaching their viewers and readers about the problem of unfair arbitration–calling it a secret, rigged, kangaroo court. As Mike Florio put it earlier this week:
The appeals brings into focus the NFL’s long standing effort to force non-player employees to submit any claims to arbitration ultimately controlled by Goodell. The law professors argue that, if the NFL’s skewed, self-serving model is permitted to stand, other companies will do the same thing.
They’re absolutely right. It makes no sense for the person ultimately in charge of a given business to have the power to resolve disputes involving that business. No one should want to even be put in that position. Fair outcomes to spirited legal fights demand an independent party to ascertain the facts, consider the law, hear the arguments, and make a decision.
The mere fact that the NFL wants the ability to issue final, binding judgment as to disputes involving the various teams and/or the league office is a horrible look. It should be a P.R. disaster for the league, but few in the media ever explain in clear terms what a horrible look it is.
Hopefully, more will. Although life would be a lot easier if we all possessed total authority to resolve any and all arguments in which we were involved, no one should want that kind of power. Because it makes every outcome seem suspicious and, at some level, unfair.
Regardless of whether media (and, in turn, fans) wake up to the shameful way in which the NFL has handled its in-house arbitration procedures, here’s hoping the court system shuts down for good the NFL’s secret, rigged, kangaroo court. If not, it could soon become a staple of American business.
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Here’s hoping the Second Circuit agrees.
