NFL Team Owners Elect Roger Goodell As Next Commissioner

NFL Owners Elect Goodell To Be Next Commissioner

NFL Exec VP & COO Roger Goodell was named the next NFL Commissioner by team owners yesterday during meetings near Chicago. He was elected on the fifth ballot. Financial terms were not released on Goodell’s five-year deal. The other four finalists were NFL outside counsel Gregg Levy, Cleveland-based attorney Frederick Nance, Fidelity Investments Vice Chair & COO Robert Reynolds and Constellation Energy Chair, President & CEO Mayo Shattuck (THE DAILY). On Long Island, Bob Glauber reports Goodell “is set to take over day-to-day operations from Tagliabue on or about” September 1 (NEWSDAY, 8/9). Goodell: “We haven’t discussed the specifics about how the transition will take place but thankfully I’ll be able to hit the ground running because I know all the people” (NFL Network, 8/8).

THE VOTE: The following details the ballot breakdowns.

BREAKDOWN OF BALLOTS
Ballot No. 1	Goodell (15)	Levy (13)
Ballot No. 2	Goodell (17)	Levy (14)
Ballot No. 3	Goodell (17)	Levy (14)
Ballot No. 4	Goodell (21)	Levy (10)
Ballot No. 5	Goodell (23)	Levy (8)

Davis Abstains From Most Of Voting

THE PROCESS: In N.Y., Gary Myers reports Nance, Reynolds and Shattuck “combined for just three votes” on the first ballot, after which owners “decided to eliminate” them from consideration. Raiders Owner Al Davis abstained on every ballot. After the third ballot, “there was a lot of dialogue among the owners debating the merits of Goodell and Levy,” which “created movement on the next ballot.” Once Goodell had the required two-thirds vote, outgoing NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue “encouraged the owners, as a formality, to make it 32-0 and even Davis, who abstained even though he was on the eight-member commissioner committee, went along” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/9).

A LOOK INSIDE: ESPN.com’s Len Pasquarelli reported Steelers Chair and search committee co-Chair Dan Rooney “delivered a rousing endorsement [of Goodell] before the voting even began.” Rooney said he told his fellow owners “that I was going to vote for the best person to be commissioner. And I told them I had no doubt that was Roger Goodell." Pasquarelli noted the revenue-sharing issue “was not manifested in Tuesday’s election,” as low-revenue owners “talked a better game than they played, and ultimately lined up” behind Goodell (ESPN.com, 8/8). But NFL Network’s Adam Schefter reported some owners were concerned that Goodell “had been handpicked by Paul Tagliabue, he was being ushered in by a group of powerful owners; and I think there were other owners that resented that and that was the reason” Goodell received only 15 votes in the first ballot. Schefter: “Some owners were very leery of having Roger Goodell essentially jammed down their throats. They wanted to have a say, which is why they ... voted for some of the other candidates” (NFL Network, 8/8). But Tagliabue said, “The process was good in that it got everyone looking ahead and not just at the circumstances in their own city” (ESPN.com, 8/8). Giants Chair & Exec VP Steve Tisch said, “It was because Gregg Levy is such a strong candidate and such a fantastic lawyer and has such a long-term relationship with the league, that (we finished) at five minutes of six and not five minutes of 3” (DENVER POST, 8/9).

View our blog from the NFL owners meetings in Chicago.