Overview
- The U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota announced that Doty died on Saturday, June 27, 2026, and the NFL issued a statement expressing condolences to his family and colleagues.
- Doty presided over the post-1987 strike litigation that led a 1992 jury to reject the owners’ limited “Plan B” free-agency rules and helped produce the 1993 settlement that created modern free agency.
- The 1993 agreement spun out of the White case established the franchise tag and a salary-cap framework that changed how teams build rosters and manage payroll.
- Doty remained a key federal arbiter in NFL labor matters for decades after the settlement, taking senior status in 1998 but handling cases until months before his death and issuing notable rulings involving Michael Vick and Adrian Peterson.
- His death removes a long-standing, influential judge who shaped player mobility and team economics and signals that future labor disputes will be decided under new judicial hands with different precedents and views.