Jerry Jones Pays $2 Million Roger Goodell Requested to Cover Legal Fees

Goodell requested the money to cover costs incurred by the league in two legal battles against the Cowboys.

The dispute between Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell over the league’s request for a $2 million payment from Jones is over. 

Jones completed the payment on Wednesday, a league spokesperson confirmed to The MMQB’s Albert Breer. 

Goodell ordered Jones to pay the money last month as reimbursement for legal fees incurred by the league in two cases with the Cowboys. The story was broken by the New York Times, which inaccurately characterized the request for payment as a fine. In fact, the payment was requested under an NFL rule requiring owners to repay their fellow owners for any legal fees resulting from litigation against the league. The rule has been in place since 1997. 

Jones met with Goodell on Monday in Florida to appeal Goodell’s ruling, David Moore of the Dallas Morning News reported.

The first case between the Cowboys and the NFL in 2017 was the long-running dispute over Ezekiel Elliott’s suspension for domestic violence. The second was Jones’s threat to sue in order to prevent Goodell’s contract from being extended. Though the dispute over Goodell’s contract never ended up in court, both sides employed lawyers to trade letters.