Jerry Jones is not necessarily popular with every NFL owner right now, as he is standing in firm opposition to commissioner Roger Goodell and making all kinds of waves as a result. There is plenty to monitor when it comes to the pending fight between sides there, but on Sunday evening, Mike Florio of NBC's Pro Football Talk described a "nuclear option" that the league and its owners could take against Jones, instead of the other way around.
In short, there is some language in the NFL's bylaws that could allow the other owners to attempt to oust Jones from control of the Cowboys completely.
A league source with knowledge of the situation tells PFT that multiple owners already have been discussing the possibility, which flows from Article VIII of the NFL's Constitution & Bylaws. Specifically, Section 8.13 authorizes the Commissioner to determine that an owner "has been or is guilty of conduct detrimental to the welfare of the League or professional football." If the Commissioner believes the available sanction (a $500,000 fine) is "not adequate or sufficient," the Commissioner may refer the issue to the NFL's Executive Committee, which has the power to compel "[c]ancellation or forfeiture of the franchise in the League of any member club involved or implicated," with a directive to sell the team.
As noted in the original report, this seems highly unlikely for a number of reasons, chief among them that Jones would certainly not go down without a fight. It is basically inconceivable to think of Jones giving up his billion-dollar franchise without years of legal proceedings and other NFL owners absolutely have to know this.
Still, this mere buzz about this kind of option being anywhere close to on the table says a lot about feelings toward Jones and this is a situation that continues to unfold.
