It’s not a violation of anything, because in the end that’s a large part of what civil courts are for. A significant percentage of the cases that land in civil court involve 2 sides disagreeing on the meaning and application of a contract. And notice that the ruling was based on both previous legal cases involving the league AND results of their own arbitration and appeals process (Tagliabue’s throwing out of the suspension of players for not complying with the Bounty Gate suspension was specifically sited). He strongly encouraged them to find an agreement multiple times, they failed, so one way or the other he had to rule. The only question at that point is how would he rule.
It seems a dominion such as this is different from a normal business arrangement. In business contracts define work and materials to be exchanged. The NFL exists to play football. The way it is played and the regulation of penalties resulting from play appear to be within it's own jurisdiction.
I do not have any vested interest in this issue other than its legal ramifications.
Thank you for your time. I am now closed to replies on this subject.