Lawyers bash Goodell-led arbitration in NFL racial bias suit

By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for three Black NFL coaches alleging racial bias by the league took aim directly at Commissioner Roger Goodell in their latest arguments against arbitrating a dispute they say belongs before a jury. In papers filed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, the lawyers wrote that arbitration, which would be led by Goodell, would allow “unconscionably biased one-sided ‘kangaroo courts’” to decide the outcome of the lawsuit filed in February. They say Goodell could not be fair in overseeing and ruling on the dispute as to whether the league engages in systemic discrimination. They cited the hundreds of millions of dollars he earns from teams and his public statement that the suit is without merit.