Dolphins owner Stephen Ross may be persona non grata in NFL circles, but he still enjoys one of the basic privileges of member in Club Oligarch.
They’re not supposed to attack their own.
Michael Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that three owners and two high-level team executives “expressed disappointment” during this week’s league meetings regarding political ads “personally targeting” Ross. Those ads have been funded by 49ers owner Jed York.
The skirmish is playing out within the context of the Santa Clara mayoral race. The ads attack Ross as “one of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters,” and they contend that he has engaged in “shady backroom deals” with current Mayor Lisa Gillmor.
“You don’t like to see it,” an unnamed NFC owner told Silver. “The league works best when it functions as a partnership, and when we treat each other as partners with common interests.”
The problem is that Ross and York have diverging interests in Santa Clara, and that Ross has exited his own backyard and infiltrated York’s.
Ross wasn’t present for Tuesday’s meeting, one of the terms of his punishment for (checks notes) shady backroom deals involving a coach and a quarterback under contract with other teams.