Patriots emails that reveal salaries of assistant coaches will remain private, per judge’s ruling
The Patriots claimed they would "suffer competitive and commercial harm" if emails were released.
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The New England Patriots will not have salaries of two assistant coaches revealed publicly as part of a lawsuit, an Arkansas judge ruled on Tuesday.
According to the Boston Globe, four emails between Bill Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft from 2018 and 2019 were submitted as evidence in a lawsuit and counter-lawsuit between former Patriots assistant Bret Bielema and the University of Arkansas’ Razorback Foundation. The foundation sued Bielema, arguing that the former Razorbacks head coach violated terms of his buyout after he was fired in 2017.
The terms of Bielema’s buyout included $11.95 million that would be offset by earnings if Bielema took a job elsewhere that paid more than $150,000. After his firing, Bielema joined the Patriots staff as a consultant and was paid $25,000 for his efforts. He was later brought on full-time as a “special assistant to the head coach” and was paid $100,000.
The Razorback Foundation cut off Bielema’s payments at $4.55 million, saying he had a “duty to mitigate” the payments by pursuing high-paying work. Bielema sued for the remaining money plus damages, and the Razorback Foundation countersued plus damages.
The Patriots, meanwhile, found themselves swept up in the drama when the foundation submitted emails that discussed how much other assistant coaches were paid. New England argued that the emails “contain competitively sensitive and personal information — including compensation paid to another member of the team’s coaching staff” which would cause the Patriots to “suffer competitive and commercial harm if this information is made publicly available.” New England argued that the release of the information would harm their ability to keep their assistant coaches, since assistant coaches are highly sought after.
Ultimately, judge P.K. Holmes III ruled in the Patriots’ favor.
“Because the e-mails are merely documents exchanged in discovery at this point, the Court will extend NEP the benefit of the doubt and accept its argument that the e-mails should be protected in their entirety,” Holmes wrote. “If it becomes appropriate to treat the e-mails, or information derived therefrom, as judicial documents … the Court will revisit this question.”
The Globe has a full breakdown of Bielema’s suit.
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