2024 NFL league meetings takeaways: Tom Brady becomes part owner; league reviewing Deshaun Watson lawsuit

All of the NFL’s 32 ownership groups met in in Atlanta for league meetings on Tuesday, and a whirlwind of activity took place.

Here are four key takeaways from today’s biggest ownership news items.

The Jaguars aren’t moving to London

The Jacksonville Jaguars are as linked to London as any team in the NFL for obvious reasons. Their Week 7 game against the New England Patriots in the United Kingdom’s capital city is Jacksonville’s second week in a row across the pond after they also played their Week 6 game against the Chicago Bears there. Week 7 will mark the Jaguars’ 13th game in London, which is more than any other two NFL teams combined. 

With NFL commissioner Roger Goodell saying “there’s no question a team could be successful” in London full-time back in 2018, many wondered if the Jaguars would eventually move there full time. Team owner Shad Khan also owns Fulham F.C. of the Premier League. However, the Jaguars and the rest of the league’s ownership approved, by vote, at Tuesday’s league meetings that the franchise’s EverBank Stadium renovation and lease with the city of Jacksonville will be in place for many years to come. Khan’s son Tony, who is the Jaguars Chief Football Strategy Officer, gleefully tweeted the news Tuesday afternoon. 

The Jaguars will remain frequent guests of London but not future residents. 

Tom Brady becomes an NFL owner as Mark Davis seeks Patriots glory

Brady’s bid to purchase a minority stake in the Las Vegas Raiders began in May of 2023, but it now became approved on Tuesday in Atlanta. Majority owner Mark Davis sold 10.5% of the Raiders with 5% going to the seven-time Super Bowl champion, another 5% going to Brady’s business partner Tom Wagner and 0.5% going to former Raider and Brady’s Hall of Fame teammate for three New England Patriots Super Bowls in retired defensive lineman Richard Seymour. 

The purchase continues a trend of Davis wanting his franchise to become Patriots West. He previous hired Brady’s former six-time Super Bowl-winning offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels from the New England dynasty years to be his head coach, hired longtime Patriots front office staff member Dave Ziegler to be his general manager, previously signed ex-Brady teammates like wide receiver Jakobi Meyers, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, quarterback Brian Hoyer and edge rusher Chandler Jones, to name a few. 

The next four Super Bowl sites are known

The home of the Atlanta Falcons, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, will play host to Super Bowl LXII in February 2028, and it will be the city’s fourth Super Bowl as well as the stadium’s second.

Super Bowl LXII will be CBS’ 23rd Super Bowl broadcast, the most among all networks. Atlanta’s last two Super Bowls the city has hosted have been close, competitive contests involving the Rams beating the Titans on the final play to conclude the 1999 season and the Patriots besting the Rams to wrap up the 2018 season. The city’s first Super Bowl was Super Bowl XXVIII, a game in which the Dallas Cowboys stomped the Buffalo Bills 30-13 to win its second consecutive championship. That game was played at the now-demolished Georgia Dome. 

Next 4 Super Bowls

The date of the 2028 Super Bowl game is not yet known. 

NFL still reviewing Deshaun Watson’s latest settled lawsuit

Cleveland Browns starting quarterback Deshaun Watson settled his latest lawsuit earlier in October after it was alleged that Watson exposed himself and then sexually assaulted a woman while on a date at her apartment in 2020. That was when he was still on the the Houston Texans. Watson “strongly denied” the allegations via his lawyer, Rusty Hardin.

However, Goodell said Tuesday, via the Associated Press, that he and the league office are still reviewing this case to see if it violates the NFL’s personal conduct policy. The NFL suspended Watson for the first 11 games in 2022, his first season with the Browns, after Watson sat out the entire 2021 season. Watson has never been hit with criminal charges despite settling more than 20 different lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct or assault.