Goodell said the NFL will comply with the order of US District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson, who ordered an end to the lockout after agreeing with a request by the players. However, the League will appeal and seek guidance on whether it can receive a stay on the ruling.
Goodell wrote in The Wall Street Journal that Monday’s ruling “may significantly alter professional football as we know it”. According to Goodell, if the players have their way, “the NFL would be forced to operate in a dramatically different way”.
He added: “To be sure, their approach would benefit some star players and their agents (and, of course, the lawyers themselves). But virtually everyone else – including the vast majority of players as well as the fans – would suffer.”
Goodell said the players' antitrust lawsuit against the league “attacks virtually every aspect of the current system, including the draft, the salary cap and free-agency rules, which collectively have been responsible for the quality and popularity of the game for nearly two decades”.
Goodell added that he believes the labour dispute will ultimately be settled through negotiation rather than litigation. “We believe that this is a dispute that grows out of a labour dispute and we believe the law is clear on that,” he added.
