Aside from you personally, everything I've seen and heard suggests that the NFL has filed an appeal, or at least (as you clarify), started the process of doing so by filing their paperwork. It isn't just being reported on sport sites that the NFL controls, there are plenty of "real" media outlets who have reported the same thing.
I'm not meaning to question your expertise, just stating that I am leery as to whom to believe, that's all.
In regard to your theory that they would've requested a stay, here is a direct quote explaining their decision to appeal to the 2nd circuit, yet choosing not to ask for the stay:
"
Goodell said it was necessary to appeal “to uphold the collectively bargained responsibility to protect the integrity of the game.”
He called the need to secure the game’s competitive fairness “a paramount principle.”
Hours after Goodell issued his statement, the league appealed to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan with a one-page notice from NFL attorney Daniel Nash.
An NFL spokesman said the league would not seek an emergency stay, freeing Brady to play while the case is appealed."
http://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybr...uling-it-could-be-roger-goodells-death-knell/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...chard-overturned-berman-new-england/71504142/
http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/judge-lifts-tom-bradys-suspension-nfl-files-appeal/
I don't really understand where you're going with this.
SI actually hit it perfectly from 9/3 -
http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/09/03/deflategate-tom-brady-suspension-overturned-roger-goodell-nfl-nflpa
The NFL will likely file a notice of appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and seek an expedited review. As explained below, even if the Second Circuit grants the NFL an expedited review, it would take several months before a decision is made.
Which they did. A "notice" of appeal. This is the actual "notice of appeal". This is all that has been filed with the court post vacation of the award:
https://twitter.com/WALLACHLEGAL/status/639515127012831232/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
Again, this is all the NFL has filed to this point. No briefs, no supporting documents, nothing. There is no timetable for them to proceed, other than what QuantumMechanic posted earlier. October 28th is the drop-dead date to file a brief by the NFL. If they don't do it by then, the appeal will be dismissed outright. They have until Friday to request an expedited appeal, and they'd need to file their pre-Arguments on Thursday.
If they skip those dates, it would certainly indicate to me, and to anyone paying half-attention, that the NFL is not serious in their statements about appealing.
Although, one could question their sincerity already by not requesting a stay of Berman's decision. Also from the SI article:
The NFL might also seek a stay of Judge Berman’s order that would allow the league to suspend Brady during its appeal, but it is unlikely a stay would be granted. Media reports also indicate that the NFL does not intend to seek a stay.
They, of course, did not request a stay, and they would have lost anyway - just as Brady would have lost a request for a stay as well. It's one thing to request a stay or a TRO pending an appeal. That happens more often than not. It's another entirely to have one granted AFTER an appeal has already been heard and ruled on, and you are the losing party.
Right there, even though they would have lost, demonstrated to me that the NFL's intent to actually follow through on an appeal is not serious, and is simply an attempt at lame PR by a league who is clearly on the run, especially in court. They've appealed the Peterson case as well, but obviously, he's playing, and Goodell has so little respect for the court that he's been brought up on contempt of court charges there. The NFL didn't file an expedited appeal there either, because they knew it was likely they'd lose, and didn't want that fact in the press.
They most certainly don't want the Brady press again - because that's the Peterson case times a million in terms of publicity, and they know they have no case whatsoever, and no chance of winning, and it would be yet another embarrassment for a league that really can't take much more.
The NFL won't file for expedited status, and they will, in my opinion, let the Oct. 28th deadline come and go as well. Even if they do file in October, it will be an 18-24 month process in which Brady will not need to be in court. There will be no settlement talks. And the NFL will lose, no matter what Lester Munson says.
In all honesty though, the best course of action would be to let the notice lapse on the 28th without a statement. I mean, we'll be well into the season, and none of the moron shill reporters will ask about it, if they even know about it.
There may not even be a press release. People who check on these things will notice, people will find out around the beginning of November, wedged between Halloween and Veteran's Day - and the public at-large won't care.
The whole thing will be behind the NFL at that point, and with as little media scrutiny as possible.
If they file, it will be Appeal-Watch. When's the next thing filed? When's the next thing? And in this case, there will be nothing on Brady's shoulders. He's not going to be in court - ever. By the time it's actually done, and 2 more years of embarrassment by Jeff Trolleycar Kessler in court - they'll either lose, and take it on the chin, or win....and have it kicked back to Richard Berman....and we do all this again - and Brady still won't have to be in court unless requested (which I doubt. I can't imagine Berman needs to hear anything else from him) and Brady will play through that too. And Berman will rule against the NFL on one of the other four vacatable points that he didn't rule on the last time, and we do this all again.
But the NFL has no shot at an appeal, none. Munson be damned. I don't care how brilliant and well-written he says the briefs are.
The owners are sick and tired of being told that they'll win in court, only to get their ass kicked every single time. Goodell's not a lawyer. The vast majority of owners are not lawyers. Goodell's surrounded by yes-men that tell him what they want to hear. One thing I can promise you, John Mara was pissed that his name was brought into this and was singled-out. I bet you anything that Mara is one of the owners that told him to drop it.
And he was told to drop it.
If not, Jastremski and McNally would currently be suspended by the NFL additionally. They were left to be on their way, because the NFL DOESN'T WANT THE BAD PUBLICITY.
Goodell is power-mad, and he's dumb as a stump when it comes to legal issues, but that dude knows PR, and he's gotta know the battle's lost here. He did everything he could, and he can demonstrate that to the owners. What he didn't expect was some actual reporters doing their actual jobs and discovering the truth of the matter.
NFL filed "Notice of Appeal":
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/03/us/deflategate-tom-brady-ruling/
NFL filed "Notice of Appeal":
http://nesn.com/2015/09/roger-goodell-nfl-will-appeal-decision-to-vacate-tom-bradys-suspension/
NFL filed "Notice of Appeal":
https://twitter.com/bobmcgovernjr/status/639534208751419392 (attorney)
NFL filed "Notice of Appeal":
https://twitter.com/WALLACHLEGAL/status/639514196003176448 (attorney)
NFL filed "Notice of Appeal":
http://www.boston.com/community/for...t-angle-regarding-the-nfls-appeal/100/8396554
NFL filed "Notice of Appeal":
http://www.collegeandprosportslaw.c...turns-arbitration-award-suspending-tom-brady/
Most of the media took the NFL's "OMGWEAPPEAL" at face value, and did zero actual reporting, just re-printing what the NFL said, you know, like they always do.
Again, that one page is all that's been filed, and as far as Joe Sixpack's concerned, the NFL "Appealed" and then it goes into the Court Fog for a while, until one of those Activist Judges says something.
