Filing a civil suit first doesn’t mean they are gold diggers. Maybe if it was 1 or 2…but 22? Not a chance. They were talked into going the criminal route, even though everyone knew the odds were against it given the circumstances and big money they were facing.
Bandwagon... some go civil and their friends jump on the bandwagon.
If some of the 22 had tried the criminal route first, it would have meant that they wanted Watson to pay (not financially) for his crime. When all were trying for a fat payday first, it was a money grab.
Imagine your mother, wife, daughter or sister having some sexual crime being committed against them. What would they be looking for, justice or money?
It is not logical what happened if it were a real crime.
Moreover, massage parlors are notorious for providing sex. Just ask Kraft. Do you think that Watson went to the Puritan Massage Parlors or did women at massage parlors find out that he was the RICH QB of the local team and decided that making thousands from a civil suit versus making hundreds from happy endings was worth the time and effort?