Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott and his legal team took a trip back east to argue in favor of a preliminary injunction of the six-game ban he received from the NFL earlier this year.
The injunction would have enabled Elliott to continue playing while the rest of the legal issue sorts itself out.
And now, we have a ruling.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of the NFL in the case, reinstating Elliott’s six-game ban in the process.
Judge dissolves temporary restraining order and denies Elliott's motion. He is suspended.
— Kate Hairopoulos (@khairopoulos) October 31, 2017
This likely means that Elliott won’t be able to play over the short term without further, and to be honest, desperate action from the NFLPA.
Not only is it a major blow for Ezekiel Elliott and his Cowboys, it’s a major loss for the NFLPA in court. The hope here was that the American justice system would view commissioner Roger Goodell’s power as overreacting in nature. That didn’t happen here.
In making her decision, the judge ruled that the arbitration process was played out fairly for Elliott and the NFLPA.
The judge denied Ezekiel Elliott tonight. pic.twitter.com/HQQVzkLfxa
— JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) October 31, 2017
It was a major point of contention since the league initially handed out the six-game ban.
There will obviously be more information made available here. But for now, this is a major win for Goodell and the NFL. It’s also a brutal blow for the Cowboys’ Super Bowl aspirations and the NFLPA’s legitimacy as a union in the court of law.