NFL owners "have defended" Commissioner Roger Goodell’s compensation of $34.1M in '14, which "exceeds what chief executives at some of the country’s largest corporations receive, because they claim he has excelled at increasing the NFL's revenue," according to Ken Belson of the N.Y. TIMES. Goodell is "not paid directly from revenue generated through fans; he is compensated by the 32 NFL owners." Given the NFL's revenue "relative to that of other leagues, Goodell’s pay is comparable" to what commissioners of MLB and some other leagues have received. Goodell’s compensation is "determined by a committee" of owners that includes the Falcons' Arthur Blank, Patriots' Robert Kraft and Panthers' Jerry Richardson (N.Y. TIMES, 2/17). ESPN.com's Darren Rovell noted Goodell's salary "can be seen as high or low depending on how one compares executive compensation to revenue." NFL revenues were about $11B in '14. By comparison, Nike CEO Mark Parker made $14.7M off company revenues of $27.7B and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer received $42M in compensation in '14, a year in which Yahoo "pulled in only" $4.6B (ESPN.com, 2/16). In N.Y., Peter Botte notes Goodell's compensation in '14 was "nearly as much as what the league’s two highest-paid players," Bears QB Jay Cutler and Buccaneers DT Gerald McCoy, made in '14 combined (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/17).
