Doty snub seen as a victory for NFL owners

So much for the NFL players' home-courtroom advantage over the owners.

When the players filed their lawsuit last Friday against the league, it was expected that it would eventually land in the lap of U.S. District Judge David Doty, who has been the primary arbiter in the league's collective bargaining issues since the early 1990s when he presided over the players' landmark antitrust victory over the league that paved the way for free agency.

The 81-year-old Doty is considered pro-player. Most of his NFL-related rulings in the last 2 decades favored the players.

So, you can bet there were a few champagne corks popped at the NFL office in Manhattan yesterday morning when it was learned that Brady v. NFL had been assigned to another judge in the 8th Circuit Court in Minneapolis, Susan Nelson, rather than Doty.

"This has to be a big disappointment for the NFLPA and the player plaintiffs," said Gary Roberts, dean of Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis and one of the country's foremost sports-law experts.

"Judge Doty was totally on their side on every issue and would likely have ruled for them on all important matter going forward. How Judge Nelson will view things and rule on all these issues remains to be seen."

It won't take long to find out. A hearing has been scheduled before Nelson on April 6 on the players' motion for a preliminary injunction that would block the lockout the league imposed Friday night after the collective bargaining agreement expired.

If the injunction is granted, the lockout would be lifted and the league would have to resume normal operations and put work rules in place, including free agency, while the court battle continued. If the injunction is denied, the players have a problem.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees, one of the 10 named plaintiffs in Brady v. NFL, insisted the fact that the suit has been assigned to a judge other than Doty is no big deal.

"To us, that's not an issue," he said. "That was something that the owners seemed to be very concerned about and focused on. For us, it's about the facts and it's about the law. And we believe those are on our side. We're not concerned about that."

The NFLPA hasn't given up hope that the case could still eventually find its way to Doty. While Roberts said the only way it wouldn't stay in Nelson's courtroom is if she recused herself for some reason, there might be another way.

"If either the court or one of the parties designates the case as a related case that has been previously assigned to another judge, it could get reassigned," Tom Heffelfinger, a former U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, told the Associated Press.

Because the players filed the lawsuit Friday before the old collective bargaining agreement had expired, it could be argued that that case has not been closed and the new suit should be assigned to Doty.