NFL Casts Doubt on St. Louis Rams Ownership Bid by Rush Limbaugh

"Right now they're in an exploratory phase," New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch said. "Until they've seen all the offers and all the potential buyers, only then will they decide. I do think they would like to make a decision one way or the other by the end of the season."

The Rev. Al Sharpton reportedly sent a letter to Goodell on Monday urging the NFL to reject Limbaugh's ownership bid. Jesse Jackson also expressed public opposition to Limbaugh's bid.

"I haven't seen a lot of the media reports at this point in time," Goodell said Tuesday. "We've been in our league meetings. But we had a report from the Rams this morning on their sale process. They're at an extremely early stage in that. They have not even fully committed to selling the franchise. They gave us a brief update on the process without identifying any of the bidders but mentioning very clearly that there were multiple bidders. It's really premature for us to speculate on anyone that may or may not be involved in any of the ownership groups. At this point in time, they have not all been fully identified to us.

"So at this point in time we'll continue our process, which is to allow the Rams to go through the process of deciding whether they're going to sell and who they sell to. And then at some point, the NFL will be engaged and we will put whatever ownership group is put forth through our process."

DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players Association, reportedly expressed his personal reservations about Limbaugh's bid in a memo to players on the union's ruling executive committee, and urged players to express their views about the matter publicly. The union has no formal role in approval of an ownership bid.

Several NFL players have said since Limbaugh's bid became public that they would not play for a team owned by him.

"I've talked to players, so I understand the issue with players," Goodell said. "The comments that Rush made, specifically about Donovan [McNabb], I disagree with very strongly. Those are polarizing comments that we don't think reflect accurately on the NFL or our players. I obviously do not believe those comments are positive. They're divisive, and that's a negative thing for us."

In 2003, Limbaugh resigned from ESPN after making controversial comments about McNabb, the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Limbaugh said on the network's studio show that "the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."

Limbaugh said during an interview with NBC in recent days that he's certain his opponents hope his bid to purchase the Rams fails.

"They're just gonna go nuts," Limbaugh said, according to a written account online of the interview. "This is the kind of stuff they've been trying to make sure doesn't happen with me.

"All this stuff is the mainstreaming of Rush Limbaugh from off this far-right fringe they've tried to put me. I just keep tiptoeing into the mainstream. And it just irritates them."