The NFL has cleared the team, but internal Browns documents viewed by SI raise questions.
A Cleveland-area trial lawyer sits in a conference room of a midtown Manhattan skyscraper, prepared to argue for the reputation of a former professional football coach in a hearing the public was never meant to know about.
Joe Stafford had arrived with a cache of evidence he believes shows that the Browns’ front office misled Hue Jackson during the coach’s hiring process, and that the team set out to intentionally lose games over a two-year span, set up Jackson as a dupe, and scapegoated and defamed him in public comments by prominent members of the organization. Stafford plans to lay it all out on this day, Jan. 24, 2020, before an NFL-appointed arbitrator.
What unfolds is hours of frustration for all parties involved. A large portion of the hearing is devoted to whether the details of Jackson’s case will even be heard. The Browns—who are denying all of Jackson’s claims—have a trump card: an agreement, signed by Jackson and dated Nov. 5, 2018, a little more than a week after his firing, that releases the team from all claims in exchange for Jackson collecting the rest of his salary. In September ’19, when Jackson first demanded arbitration, the Browns formally filed a motion to dismiss based on that release agreement. This hearing is Jackson’s only recourse, based on language in his contract—which has become standard across the NFL—mandating football-related disputes with the team be...
The Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, has rejected claims that he has withdrawn or rescinded the gazetted renaming of Graaff-Reinet to Robert Sobukwe Town, along with other geo...