Colin Kaepernick makes his fight official, files grievance against NFL owners

Colin Kaepernick has filed a grievance against the NFL under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Citing collusion by NFL owners, Kaepernick and his attorney Mark Geragos, are requesting an arbitration hearing on the matter.

I am told that @Kaepernick7 has filed a grievance under the CBA for collusion against the owners. If accurate, this is huge.

— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) October 15, 2017

Mark Geragos, who has represented Michael Jackson, Chris Brown, and Winona Ryder, released a statement claiming that the NFL’s treatment of Kaepernick “harkens back to our darkest days as a nation.” Geragos also cited partisanship and the president’s behavior as “political provocation by the Executive Branch of our government” in the statement.

Geragos wrote in full:

“If the NFL (as well as all professional sports teams) is to remain a meritocracy, then principled and peaceful protest — which the owners themselves made great theater imitating weeks ago — should not be punished and athletes should not be denied employment based on partisan political provocation by the Executive Branch of our government. Such a precedent threatens all patriotic Americans and harkens back to our darkest days as a nation. Protecting all athletes from such collusive conduct is what compelled Mr. Kaepernick to file his grievance.

“Colin Kaepernick’s goal has always been, and remains, to simply be treated fairly by the league he performed at the highest level for and to return to the football playing field.”

Statement from Mark Geragos, counsel for Colin Kaepernick. pic.twitter.com/Z7rWpuwb2g

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) October 15, 2017

Up until now Kaepernick was fighting his battle with the NFL in the court of public opinion. This move changes that and signifies the first step in what could become a long, protracted legal battle between Kaepernick, the NFL Players Association (which has signified their intention to help the quarterback), and NFL owners.

Kaepernick is officially going toe-to-toe with NFL owners, a group of some of the richest and most powerful people in the world.

This is a big first step in making his feud with NFL owners official, but it’s most likely just the beginning of a case that will hopefully give us some sort of conclusion to this saga.