What’s Next for Jon Gruden and the NFL?

On August 11, the Nevada Supreme Court sided with former NFL Raiders coach Jon Gruden in his lawsuit against the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell.¹

The Court ultimately denied the NFL’s motion to send Gruden’s complaint through the League’s arbitration process.² Gruden’s lawsuit alleges that Roger Goodell and the NFL pressured  Raiders owner Mark Davis to fire Gruden because of emails that he wrote.³

In 2021, Gruden was forced to resign as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders after a series of emails were leaked, containing racist, misogynistic and homophobic language, from a seven-year period before Gruden was hired as the Raiders coach in 2018.⁴

At the time the emails were sent, Gruden was employed as the lead analyst for Monday Night Football. ⁵ Gruden alleges that the NFL leaked the emails to the media, as many of the emails referenced Roger Goodell himself.⁶ Gruden’s position is that his emails were selectively leaked by the NFL, calling it a “malicious and orchestrated campaign” that was meant to hurt his career. ⁷

The NFL sought to resolve the complaint through its internal arbitration process, which Gruden opposed.⁸ The NFL has an internal arbitration process that is ordinarily used in employee disputes, but here, Gruden was no longer an employee and sought to be exempt from the process. 

In a 5-2 decision, the Nevada Supreme Court ultimately ruled in Gruden’s favor and held that the NFL arbitration process did not apply.⁹ The court further explained that “if the NFL Constitution were to bind former employees, the Commissioner could essentially pick and choose which disputes to arbitrate.” ¹⁰

Ultimately, Goodell was blocked by the Court from presiding over the potential arbitration in which he is a defendant. ¹¹ Now, the NFL plans to petition the Nevada Supreme Court for a rehearing, and there is potential for the United States Supreme Court to become involved if the NFL’s petition fails.¹² 

1. Don Von Natta, Jr., Jon Gruden eager to discover ‘truth’ in NFL emails lawsuit, ESPN (Aug. 12, 2025)  ↩︎
2. Id. ↩︎
3. Id.  ↩︎
4. Id. ↩︎
5. Id. ↩︎
6. ESPN News Services, Report: Jon Gruden used anti-gay, misogynistic language in emails over 7-year period, ESPN, (Oct. 11, 2021)  ↩︎
7. Associated Press, NFL to appeal court ruling that allows Jon Gruden lawsuit to proceed, ESPN (Aug. 12, 2025)  ↩︎
8. Von Natta, supra note 1. ↩︎
9. Id.  ↩︎
10. Id.  ↩︎
11. Id. ↩︎
12. Id. ↩︎