NFL, Dallas Cowboys Owner Seek Dismissal of Super Bowl Suit

Something tells me we haven’t heard the last of this.

The National Football League and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones asked a judge  to dismiss a lawsuit over Super Bowl XLV tickets, saying reimbursement offers to  displaced ticket holders were legally adequate.

“These offers were made to be accommodating to the NFL’s valued fans, but in  fact, they exceed the amount to which any of the ticket holders is entitled,”  lawyers for the NFL and Jones said in a court filing today.

I guess I don’t understand the defense that the NFL and Jerry Jones are using. It sounds like they are saying that they replaced the ticket holders expense for the original seats that they purchased.

The fans, seeking to represent other ticket holders in a class-action, or group  suit, accuse the league and Jones of breach of contract, breach of faith and  fair dealing, fraud, deceit and concealment and negligent misrepresentation.
Lawyers for the league and Jones said in an earlier filing that they offered to  pay 3,296 fans a total of $4.5 million to $9.3 million.

“The motion filed by the NFL is nothing more than a Hail Mary pass,” Michael  Avenatti, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a phone interview. “Unfortunately  for them, it is going to land on the ground.”

About 475 fans weren’t  seated and watched the game on video screens. Another 2,821 fans were relocated  to new seats, or were delayed outside the stadium, according to court  papers.

The case is Simms v  Jones, 3:11-cv–00248 U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas  (Dallas).

It sounds like some fans weren’t even given seats inside of the stadium. What sort of reimbursement is that?

NFL, Dallas Cowboys Owner Seek Dismissal of Super Bowl Suit (SFGate)

Wake Up Call: Of course Jerry is invited to the wedding

In the biggest publicity stunt since Barnum and Bailey’s Circus came to town, Jerry Jones actually went on ESPN to tell us mere mortal, poor people that he has “special permission” to attend Tony Romo’s wedding this Saturday in Dallas. Isn’t that special?

“I’ve gotten special permission,” Jones said. “But more than anything, [I got
the] right ticket from him and his fianceé — Romo’s wife-to-be. [It's] one of
prettiest invitations I’ve ever seen.

Oh please Jerry. Do me a favor and get back to the negotiating table and break this impasse with the NFL Players Union, and lets play some football ok?

Because of the lockout, NFL teams are not allowed to speak with players or agents. However, there have been some charity events where players and coaches have crossed paths.

Technically, Jones doesn’t need special permission from the league to go to Romo’s wedding. Personal events and situations where team officials would interact with a player — such as weddings, funerals, serious illnesses or
medical emergencies — don’t need to be cleared through the league office.

Romo has sent out wedding invitations to all of his teammates and most, if not all, are expected to attend. Romo is marrying former television reporter Candice Crawford.

“It’s going to be a fun day,” Romo said earlier this week. “When you have the right one, you just know.”

Boy Howdy, we are happy now.

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ABOUT LAST NIGHT

What you missed while wondering how to reduce the price of gasoline.

Dirk Nowitzki can break a kid’s heart

Kid scores on bicycle kick, bored internet is impressed. [Off the Bench]

And oh yeah, Mavs WIN!!!

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TODAY IN REX MORGAN

Shouldn’t you be a little concerned when things are too good to be true?

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Thanks for reading the blog, have a great day!

Romo misses U.S. Open bid with 81

Well, Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys had plenty of time to play golf since the Cowboys or any other team can’t practice due to the NFL lockout, but now he can’t even do that.

Romo shot a 9-over 81 at the local qualifier at Stonebridge Ranch Country Club in McKinney on Monday. He had needed to finish in the top 10 to move on to sectional qualifying at Dallas Athletic Club next month. The U.S. Open is June 16-19 at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

See what happens when you get engaged?

U.S. Open bid over for Tony Romo (81)

Tony Romo’s Wedding Invitations are out

It’s no secret that Tony Romo is getting married to Candice Crawford in Dallas on May 28.

We just got our hands on a copy of the wedding invitation.

Today TMZ is making a huge deal out of it.

We know Candice is a gorgeous woman. And this Dallas girl was the runner-up in Tony’s pageant. But what about honorable mention? …

So Tony’s middle name is Ramiro???

The Baltimore Ravens need Judge Judy

If I’m the Baltimore Ravens this morning, I would be sooooo mad with the NFL for lack of support. In today’s world of contracts, this NFL draft should be a cover story on verbal agreements and Judge Judy should be called in to investigate and make a ruling.

The Ravens were trying to get a fourth-round pick that was part of an
uncompleted trade with the Chicago Bears that caused the clock to run out on the Ravens with the 26th overall pick. The Ravens still were able to get their targeted player in Colorado cornerback Jimmy Smith at No. 27, but they were supposed to get an additional pick from the Bears if a trade had been finalized.

“There has been some dialogue between the Ravens, the other organization and the league,” Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said before ESPN’s report came out Friday night. “I’ll just have to leave it at that. Where it’s going to go, we don’t know. But there has been some dialogue.”

The insanity of an NFL lockout

The insanity of the on-again off-again lockout continues. Players like Tony Romo and others showed up for work today amid a judge’s injunction to end the holdout was overturned.

From NBC Sports:

Although NFL players were being welcomed back to team facilities this morning because of Judge Susan Nelson’s injunction to end the lockout, that is changing this afternoon.

ESPN is reporting that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has granted a temporary stay of the injunction and reinstated the lockout, meaning players will now be told to hit the road, and doors to team facilities are being locked this afternoon.

Michael Silver of Yahoo reported this afternoon that NFL players were bracing for a ruling from the Court of Appeals that would give the owners an “administrative” stay, meaning the lockout would be back on at least through the weekend.

Then, as soon as Monday, the Eighth Circuit will hear the players’ argument against a stay. At that point, the lockout could remain on, or the players could be let back in, depending on the Eighth Circuit’s ruling. And either way, it would just be temporary until the appeals court makes a decision on the owners’ appeal of Judge Nelson’s ruling.

So just hours after players were let back into team facilities this morning, they’ll now be told that they’re no longer welcome this afternoon. And we’ll all wait until Monday to see what the appeals court does next.

UPDATE: ESPN has now retracted its report that the stay was already granted, although a stay is expected.

Jiminey Christmas!! Make up your mind!!!!! Let’s get this settled!!!!

Report: Owners get stay of injunction, lockout back on (PFT)

Deion Sanders Puts Pads up for Sale

The post went up nearly a week ago. Move.com has pics of the two places Deion has on the market. Looking to live way north of town and price is no object? His Prosper mansion is listed at $21 million. If, however, you want to live near downtown Dallas and you’re on a budget, his Azure condo is listed at $7.5 million.

He has made history with his interceptions and kick returns as a cornerback and sometime wide receiver, and now Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders has two homes listed on REALTOR.com®

The two properties are both in Texas, with his Prosper home listed at $21 million, and his Dallas home listed at $7.5 million.

NFL Notes for 2-4-11

NFL teams could soon dump playbooks for iPads?

NFL teams including the Dallas Cowboys could soon be abandoning their traditional paper playbooks and game-day printouts of plays in favor of iPads or other tablets. Pete Walsh, head of technology for the Cowboys, said his team and at least a “couple” of others are currently considering abandoning their playbooks in favor of iPads, a move they feel could save them as much as 5,000 pages of paper printouts per game. Walsh explained this potential philosophical and technological shift to CNET during a discussion about Cowboys Stadium technology at Super Bowl Media Day here Tuesday. The stadium will play host on Sunday to Super Bowl XLV between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers. For tech-friendly sports fans, it’s an appealing image–coaches and players sitting on the sidelines of the giant Cowboys Stadium, iPads in hand, studying likely plays for the next few series, or sifting through overhead photos of the last plays in order to assess their performance, or that of their opponents. Still, it’s also a bit difficult to imagine old-school NFL coaches agreeing to carry around a shiny gadget like an iPad instead of their trusty playbooks–or reviewing glossy color photos on the 9.7-inch screen rather than shuffling through paper printouts of the last passing play. One can imagine such coaches agreeing to hand over their playbooks only through tightly gritted teeth. But Walsh suggested that this migration could well be coming, though he didn’t say how long it would be before we see football pros stalking the sidelines with tablets. –CNET News

Super Bowl Notes – Tuesday

Republicans pulling for Packers, Democrats cheer for Steelers

• The results show that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is the most disliked player going into Sunday’s game and the fourth most disliked player in the league — behind Brett Favre, Michael Vick and Tom Brady. <!–more Continue reading for details on the political part of the survey–>
• Considering the four teams that played in the NFC and AFC Conference Championship games, the majority of Americans believe the Steelers-Packers matchup will make for the best Super Bowl this year.
• According to the survey’s findings, this dream matchup will also be broadcast on American’s top choice for network.  The majority of Americans say Fox does the best job of broadcasting NFL games and most pick Fox as the network on which they would most like to see the game.
• Americans are rooting for the Packers (45% to 39% over the Steelers), but there are big discrepancies along race and party. The findings show that Democrats and non-whites are rooting for the Steelers, while Republicans and whites are pulling for the Packers.
• 7 in 10 say they watch the Super Bowl for the game, not the ads, including the majority of females (60%). — Hollywood Reporter

Let ‘em play says NFL Union

It appears CBS has refuseses to air a commercial that addresses the stalled contract talks between the NFL owners and players.

The 60-second commercial was set to air once Saturday after the 2 p.m. kickoff of the players’ All-Star game on CBS’ College Sports Network — the day before the Super Bowl.

CBS is one of four networks that combined to pay the league $4 billion a year for television rights to air the game, and union officials have implied the ad was yanked because of the networks’ ties to the NFL.

“We’re totally annoyed and irritated that we’re not allowed to use the time we’ve been allotted during the game,” George Atallah, assistant executive director of the players’ union, told the New York Post of the ad, which he was informed wouldn’t run because of “the content.”

Company insiders told the Post that CBS’ executives decided to reject the spot — estimated to cost about $60,000 — because it “crossed the line of fairness.” A source said the channel was nervous about having to “air the owners’ views as well as the players.”

Well, that certainly looked controversial.

CBS refuses to run NFL player Union Ad (The Hollywood Reporter)