Cowboys' Jerry Jones, NFL's Roger Goodell Top List Of League's Most Important People

Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones, who has "long maintained rank among the NFL elite," tops a list of the NFL's 75 most important people as determined by USA TODAY. Jarrett Bell writes it has "very little to do with football results." The Cowboys are worth $3.2B, and a "sparkling new team headquarters -- dubbed 'The Star' -- is set to open in August." Yet Jones’ impact "goes far beyond being a look-at-how-I’ve-done-it model." No owner "was more influential in pushing others to sign off" on the Rams' move to L.A. One could bet that Jones "will be in the middle of the next big NFL deal." He has already sent signals that he will "back a potential move to Las Vegas" by the Raiders. Commissioner Roger Goodell is second, and Nate Davis writes though Goodell "works at the pleasure of the owners, he's typically the face of the league's triumphs and failures." He has overseen "what seems to be runaway growth for the country’s most popular sports league with a stated goal" of reaching $25B in annual revenue by '27. However, his stint as commissioner "has been turbulent." Heading into his second decade, Goodell "must keep his golden goose happy while remaining the leading defender of football’s viability amid an onslaught of escalating questions about the sport’s safety" (USA TODAY, 8/15).