Menu
Leagues and Governing Bodies

NFL owners change compensation committee

Editor’s note: This story is revised from the print edition.

Falcons owner Arthur Blank will step down as chairman of the committee next year.Getty Images

Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank will step down in May from his chairmanship of the league’s compensation committee after a tumultuous eight-year reign, his spokesman said. He is leaving the committee entirely at that point.

 

From then on, a new member will take a one-year term as chairman until also leaving, according to an NFL source who added that new members will be voted on by all owners.

 

In 2017 Blank oversaw the new contract for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, which led to threats of a lawsuit from Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and great debate among owners over transparency among the committees. Goodell signed a five-year deal worth roughly $30 million annually, while the league later fined Jones for his legal threats.

 

The new approach to the compensation committee, agreed to by members, is on this week’s NFL owners’ agenda.

 

The compensation committee has been the focus of some unusual developments recently. Last May the owners — not Goodell, who typically appoints committee members — agreed to rotate the Chiefs’ Clark Hunt and the now-late Bob McNair of the Houston Texans off the compensation committee. The newly structured committee, under terms of the May 2018 agreement, was then to have its five members vote on a chairman and a vice chairman, both on two-year terms. No other committee has a vice chairman.

 

But the committee itself scuttled that deal with the new approach of cycling an owner off every year and having him or her be chairman in the last year. It’s unclear who that will be starting in May 2019. The second in line to come off the committee will be a vice chairman who will then become the chairman the following year, a source said. The committee members picked names out of a hat to set their year of leaving, the NFL source said.

 

Jones has been pushing for new corporate governance measures, such as term limits for committee chairmen and deliberations being made available to all owners before issues come up for a vote. The plan for the compensation committee had been seen as a concession to Jones.

 

The Cowboys declined to comment.

 

At the league’s fall meeting in October, Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam was voted onto the committee as the fifth member. In addition to Haslam and Blank, the other members of the compensation committee are the New England Patriots’ Robert Kraft, the New York Giants’ John Mara and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Art Rooney. They are among the most powerful owners in the league.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2018/12/10/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/Blank.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2018/12/10/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/Blank.aspx

CLOSE