NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will be in a Minneapolis court Aug. 13 in response to a contempt of court motion the NFL Players Association filed against Goodell on May 20, the Star Tribune reports.
Hearing the case will be U.S. District Judge David S. Doty, the same man who vacated an arbitrator’s decision to uphold the NFL’s suspension against Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson last season.
Peterson was reinstated to the NFL on April 16, but Goodell ordered the arbitrator not to act on Doty’s ruling until the NFL’s appeal is heard by the Eighth District Court of Appeals, the process of which could take months, USA Today notes.
Football life is expected to resume without speed bumps for Peterson and the Vikings, but the contempt motion was filed with a goal to prevent the NFL’s delayed reaction from becoming a standard.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio notes that the only aspect of the case truly impacting Peterson’s future is whether or not he’ll have to forfeit additional game checks from the 2014 season. At this point, the running back has lost three weeks of salary, or approximately $2 million.
“There is no basis for the union’s action,” an NFL spokesman told USA Today’s Tom Pelissero in May. “The district court’s decision on Adrian Peterson is on appeal to the Eighth Circuit. In the meantime, Mr. Peterson was reinstated more than a month ago and he may fully participate in team activities. The remaining disciplinary issue concerns the amount of 2014 pay to be forfeited by Mr. Peterson and that issue is presently before the Court of Appeals.”
Peterson joined the Vikings for organized team activities last week.
