Today marks the 10-year anniversary of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's first day on the job, and while he is "arguably the most powerful front man in sports," he also is "one of the least-loved," according to Jim Litke of the AP. That may be why the league "has no official event planned to mark Goodell's decade in charge." Most corporate boards would "kill to have a guy like Goodell at the top." When he took over, league revenues "topped out" at $6B. Last year, they approached $13B. If making money was the "only measure of Goodell's success, he'd be lionized." Instead, he is "fricasseed nearly every time he ventures outside." Where Goodell "goes from here is anyone's guess." His contract runs through March '19, and with "bonuses, pension benefits and other sweeteners, he's taking home" close to $35M a year. But the "better question may be: How much longer will the NFL owners want him?" The league's 10-year CBA signed in '11 is "suddenly the source of discontent." When players "handed over disciplinary powers to Goodell and the league office, they had no idea he'd wield them so ... arbitrarily." Some owners recently said that they "do not like that the public face of the most successful sports league in American history gets more tomatoes thrown at it than any other commissioner in the 96-year history of the NFL." Litke: "Like it or not, they better get used to it. For the foreseeable future, Goodell is the only face they have" (AP, 8/31).
MAKING HIS MARK: USA TODAY's Jarrett Bell writes it "seemed fitting" that the NFL's PED ruling came down as Goodell hits his 10-year mark as commissioner. The fact that the players were "absolved only after being bullied by the league into talking ... represented another loss in the strained relations between the league and union." That "chasm has come to define the Goodell era as much as anything." Goodell is now "widely viewed as the unpopular punching bag whose approval rating among fans ... has steadily deflated." Much of this is Goodell’s "own doing, given his handling of off-field drama" (USA TODAY, 9/1). USA TODAY's Nate Davis lists 10 episodes that have "defined Goodell's turbulent reign." Among them: when Goodell "became the face of the five-month lockout" in '11. One year later, the league "used the same tactic with its game officials." Davis also includes Goodell's punishment to the Patriots over Deflategate and moving the Rams to L.A. (USA TODAY, 9/1). The AP lists some "things to look for" as Goodell heads into his second decade as commissioner.
EXTRA CREDIT? ESPN’s Joe Banner said players "benefit when the economics of the game are good, and they undervalue the amount of money they're making in part because of Roger and the league and the success it's had on the business side." Banner: "They should be giving him his fair credit for that. I think he loves the game. I think his caring about the integrity of the game is totally sincere. I don't believe it's some power move. I believe he truly cares about that, but he's got to find a way to do it that doesn't create all this other damage” (“Mike & Mike,” ESPN Radio, 9/1).
