Into The Sunset: Paul Tagliabue Profiled On “Real Sports”

HBO’s “Real Sports” Profiles NFL Commissioner Tagliabue

Outgoing NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was profiled on last night’s edition of HBO’s “Real Sports,” where Bob Costas said Tagliabue’s role –- “by design — has gone relatively unnoticed.” Tagliabue said, “I’ve always felt this position is not about the commissioner. ... The way I see it is submerge your ego, submerge yourself, and just get the job done.” Tagliabue, on succeeding Pete Rozelle: “He understood better than most that he and the owners had become a little too wed to the status quo, or maybe too distracted with litigation and labor disputes, and one of the things I was accomplishing — the league was accomplishing — was we were picking up the pace of change and he saw that as a very positive thing.”

LABOR: Tagliabue, on the notion that NFLPA Exec Dir Gene Upshaw is in his “pocket”: “I think it’s crazy and ill-informed. Gene has been a tremendous advocate for his point of view and for his constituents’ point of view.” Upshaw said, “The players don’t ask, ‘Am I too close to Paul Tagliabue?’ Their response is, ‘He’s close enough and that’s all that matters.’” Broncos Owner Pat Bowlen said of Tagliabue’s role in the recent successful completion of the new CBA, “He said, ‘Look, if we don’t get this deal done we’ve just moved ourselves back 20 years basically and we’re in for some very tough times.’ ... I can unequivocally say that Paul dragged this one across the line himself.”

Goodell On Inside Track To Succeed Tagliabue?

THE REPLACEMENTS: Costas mentioned NFL Exec VP & COO Roger Goodell and Falcons President & GM Rich McKay as possible successors to Tagliabue. Costas said, “Goodell probably has the inside track. Tagliabue plays these things close to the vest. He’s not going to tip his hand. ... I’m sure that his input ... will count for a whole lot” (HBO, 5/16). Meanwhile, N.Y. POST gossip columnist Cindy Adams writes under the header, “Condi Rice Eyeing NFL Commish Post.” Adams writes the league “is panting for” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza, and Korn/Ferry, the search firm the NFL has enlisted to aid in the search for a new commissioner, has “passed word around that ‘we’re all willing to wait until she’s ready’” (N.Y. POST, 5/17).

O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: The United Way, the NFL’s charitable partner, runs a full-page ad in today’s N.Y. Times honoring Tagliabue, saying he is “widely regarded as the best commissioner of any sport of all time” (THE DAILY).