Fansided

Cheerleaders put NFL in check in legal chess game

By Derek Helling

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - FEBRUARY 04: The Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders perform during Super Bowl LII against the New England Patriots at U.S. Bank Stadium on February 4, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - FEBRUARY 04: The Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders perform during Super Bowl LII against the New England Patriots at U.S. Bank Stadium on February 4, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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Former NFL cheerleaders who have filed lawsuits against the NFL have offered the league a settlement offer that it could be unwise to refuse.

Legal battles are often not as much about the letter or the spirit of the law as they are about which side of a dispute will blink first. In the ongoing dispute between NFL franchises and former members of their cheerleading squads, the latter party may have just taken the upper hand over the former.

According to John Branch of the New York Times, a lawyer representing two women who used to be part of the cheerleading squads for the Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints has made a very reasonable offer to the NFL as settlement of the lawsuits both women have filed.

The monetary value of the settlement offer is a mere dollar, with a catch. The women want a four-hour meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to “prepare a set of binding rules and regulations which apply to all N.F.L. teams.” The settlement offer also would bar teams which still have cheerleading squads from scrapping them for a period of five years.

As far as a substantial result for the plaintiffs in this case, this settlement offer falls far short. In terms of forcing NFL teams to change how they handle their relationships with the members of their cheerleading squads, this could also prove ineffectual. Goodell has no authority to unilaterally install any policies for all 32 NFL franchises. The league’s owners would have to vote on any such changes. The meeting would be a great first step toward their installation, but the process could prove lengthy and the implementation of the new policies complicated.

This settlement offer is all about the public relations angle and ammunition for possible trials.

If the NFL refuses this offer, it casts the league in an antiquated and misogynistic light. In the #MeToo era and in the wake of domestic violence issues, that’s something the NFL would rather avoid. From a legal perspective, if these suits do go to trial, it provides counsel for the plaintiffs with proof that they have been more than willing to negotiate a settlement of their complaints as well as a place from which to argue that what the plaintiffs seek is change in the experiences of NFL cheerleaders as opposed to simply trying to pillage the league’s coffers.

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The plaintiffs have made their move and put the NFL in a place where it needs to respond, but the league needs to be careful about how it responds. Proceeding incorrectly could end the game.