As the NFL gets set for Super Bowl 50 on Sunday, it is a time of "both great confidence and unease" in the league, according to Mark Leibovich of the N.Y. TIMES MAGAZINE. There is "talk of the NFL’s ‘existential’ challenges over player health and safety; the nation’s growing concern over concussions and degenerative brain disease; the drop in youth-football participation; lawsuits, regulatory roadblocks and disruptions to the broadcast model." But everyone still "wants a piece of the Shield." Commissioner Roger Goodell in recent years has "come under blistering public criticism, periodic calls for his resignation and a procession of rebukes in court over a host of incidents and scandals." Even Goodell’s "high profile is itself a testament to football’s runaway prosperity and popularity." But since the Ray Rice domestic-violence scandal in '14, Goodell "rarely speaks to the news media in unsafe settings," and he "repeats himself often and recites talking points." Texans Owner Bob McNair said, "We’d like to see him more relaxed and smiling and answering the questions. You know, he’s got all these legal advisers telling him you can’t say this or you can’t say that."
PROTECTING THE SHIELD: Leibovich writes Goodell's job increasingly is to "serve as a protective buffer" for the league's owners. Goodell "talks about head injuries" so that the owners do "not have to." Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones said of Goodell, "He is smooth, very smooth. I'd say he's very classy. You see that kind of discipline and refinement." Leibovich notes Goodell checks in with the owners "at least once a month." He is "solicitous and attentive and learns what issues are important to them." Certain owners are "more influential than others to Goodell, though he will never admit this." The Seahawks' Paul Allen and Lions' Martha Ford are "almost never seen or heard from by the league," while Goodell "speaks most days" to the Steelers’ Dan Rooney. There is a "core of men you always hear described as ‘key owners.’" They include "heirs to old-line NFL families" -- Steelers President Art Rooney II, Giants President & CEO John Mara and Chiefs Chair & CEO Clark Hunt. Then there are relatively "newer, more classically entrepreneurial owners," including McNair, Jones, the Panthers' Jerry Richardson and the Patriots' Robert Kraft. But it "says something about the generational and demographic makeup of the Membership that these influential ‘newer’ owners are all white men in their 70s" (N.Y. TIMES MAGAZINE, 2/7 issue).
