Initially I thought the soft deadline was about greed, but maybe not. if you think about it, the trust really has to identify 2 or 3 groups that they feel will fill there obligation or requirement. If Mr. Pegula was the only one, that would leave the trust at a serious disadvantage if something goes wrong. Image they get through this process with only him initially, and learn we under some type of federal investigation or pending huge law suit, or something. They would have likely have to go back to find a new bidder, who would likely all throw several low ball offer at them, or have would have to accepted an offer from someone with out of town interest. The way the NFL runs its business, i don't think the owner of the Browns would have been approved if the league knew then what they know now.
After Mr, Wilson passed, I had read that normally when someone is interested in buying an NFL team, they would contact the league office, and the league office would put them through like a pre-approval program. If they were pre-approved by the league they would have to wait, and the league would eventually contact then when a team became available. If they were interested they would put the two together and the process would go from there. That was the reason no one knew the Browns were for sale until the deal was done. With the way the Bills sale was moving initially, and the way everyone was talking, I thought the same was true, I had thought that Jim Kelly,s group, head by Howard Milestein was all set and they were gonna build a new stadium in Niagara Falls, backed by Gov. we will win multiple superbowls and the rest was history. But that didn't happen.
Maybe setting up the trust, and allowing then to move the piece around, and lining them up gives them the best chance to keep the team here, and take the decision making away for the Jerry Jones of the league.