As Goodell Reaches One-Year Anniversary of Election, Player Conduct is the Public's Focus But Owners Ultimately Will Judge Him on Economics
Today is the one-year anniversary of Roger Goodell's election as NFL commissioner.
The sport's franchise owners voted last Aug. 8 for Goodell to succeed the retiring Paul Tagliabue. The owners, meeting at a hotel near Chicago, chose Goodell over four other finalists, including Gregg Levy, the Washington lawyer who finished second.
Goodell officially took office a few weeks later, on Sept. 1, and has spent his first year in office trying to cleanse the league's reputation on the issue of criminal conduct by players. He announced a toughened conduct policy in April and followed up by suspending Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam (Pacman) Jones for the entire 2007 season and Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry and former Chicago Bears defensive tackle Tank Johnson for a half-season each. He now is considering a possible suspension of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, who's facing federal dogfighting charges and was ordered by Goodell not to report to the Falcons' training camp pending an ongoing review by the league of the case.
Some players have expressed reservations about Goodell's aggressive handling of the conduct issue, but he has been praised by other players and generally has received high marks from the owners who hired him. The issues on which the owners ultimately will judge Goodell, however, are yet to be tackled by him. He inherited lucrative television contracts, an uneasy labor peace and a contentiously crafted revenue-sharing accord among the owners from Tagliabue, and the owners will want to see Goodell maintain the economic prosperity that they enjoyed during Tagliabue's highly profitable tenure.
By Mark Maske |
August 8, 2007; 12:40 PM ET
| Category:
Commissioner
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Posted by: Skinsem | August 8, 2007 4:32 PM
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The key piece to this discussion, I think, ends up being the "uneasy labor peace" that Mr. Maske brought up. That peace will not last long if Goodell continues down this ridiculous path of guilty until proven innocent. Sure, I understand that he must protect his organization, however, suspending players WITHOUT pay prior to being convicted of anything is the wrong way to go.
Frankly, Gene Upshaw is spineless and will soon be out as head of the player's association. Once that occurs, the floodgates will open if Goodell continues to overstep and suspend players in such a heavy handed fashion. That "uneasy labor peace" and hence the owners financial certainty could easily deteriorate. .