(CNSNews.com) – The National Football League stated that it made no judgment on Rush Limbaugh’s bid to buy a minority stake in the St. Louis Rams franchise. A league spokesman said that the NFL had nothing to do with Limbaugh’s bid failing.
“As a league we made no judgment, approval, or disapproval of him as an owner because it’s never been presented. There was no pre-approval and that’s that,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told CNSNews.com.
Aiello further said that Limbaugh’s group, headed by St Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts, made the decision to drop the conservative talk show host, adding that bidder groups often change as the bidding process moves forward.
“As far as who comprises this ownership group that’s bidding for the Rams, those are decisions that’s made by who’s heading up the group,” said Aiello. “He’s [Checkett’s] making decisions on who’s in the group and who’s not in the group and its common for that to change in these kind of situations as they move forward -- and whether or not they actually reach an agreement to buy the Rams is a whole other question.”
At a press conference during the league’s annual owners meeting on Tuesday, commissioner Roger Goodell had said that divisive comments had no place in the NFL, noting that he held the league to higher standards and would not want to see divisive comments made by people “in responsible positions” in the NFL.
Goodell was asked if it made a difference whether political and racial remarks were uttered by an owner as opposed to a broadcaster.
“You mentioned disagreeing with Rush’s comments about Donovan [McNabb],” said a reporter. “It’s one thing if a broadcaster does it, but do you take issue with an owner frequently making comments about issues political and racial?”
Goodell answered: “I have said many times before that we are all held to a higher standard here. I think divisive comments are not what the NFL is all about. I would not want to see those kinds of comments from people who are in a responsible position within the NFL. No. Absolutely not.”
Aiello said that Goodell’s comments were hypothetical and not meant to disqualify anyone from being a part of the NFL.
“It wasn’t referring specifically to Rush Limbaugh, it was a hypothetical question about divisive or inappropriate comments from people in responsible positions and no, you wouldn’t want to see those kinds of comments,” said Aiello.
“He [Goodell] said, ‘I would not want to see those comments from people in responsible [positions],’” said Aiello. “He didn’t mean that that person couldn’t be part of the NFL.”
Aiello further said that the bottom line was that the NFL never made a determination one way or the other with respect to Limbaugh’s potential bid, adding that Dave Checketts was responsible for punting Limbaugh from the group.
“Also, the bottom line with Rush Limbaugh is we never made any determination,” Aiello told CNSNews.com. “There was never any determination made by the other owners as to whether or not he would be approved or not approved, it wasn’t presented. Dave Checketts dropping him from the group is Dave Checketts decision.”