The NFL owners have officially selected their new league commissioner to replace long-time headman Paul Tagliabue.
Roger Goodell, the 47-year-old longtime second hand man to Tagliabue, will take over the reigns of a $6 billion-a-year industry. Goodell will have the pleasure in stepping into one of, if not the top professional league in America.
As ESPN.com columnist Len Pasquarelli points out, however, the league doesn’t come without its fair share of issues.
Perhaps the most daunting reality is this one: Although the league and the NFL Players Association touted the recent extension to the collective bargaining agreement as a long-lasting peace, it really isn’t. The two sides have the option, as early as November 2008, of opting out of the agreement. There certainly have been strong indications from several owners who believe the union won excessive advantages, and also from NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw, that they may exercise the opt-out rights as soon as they can.
That would turn back the clock, perhaps, to the precipice on which the league and its players stood only five months ago. In fact, five months after the CBA extension was ratified, it still doesn’t really exist in written form, and there are still key issues over which the two sides can’t agree. One owner has joked that the CBA extension might actually be voided before anyone receives a final copy of it, or before the so-called “qualifiers” that determine the enhanced revenue sharing are in place.
As scary as it sounds that the two sides don’t even have a written deal in place that would keep a salary cap in the NFL for longer than 2008, the fact that Goodell has been a right hand man for Tagliabue for nearly a decade is a great thing.
Unlike Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League, league officials have done a great job of keeping the NFL the same as when Pete Rozelle was commissioner. Plus, having all 32 owners on your side, which was achieved when he was elected, only bestows confidence in Goodell that he can instill peace in future debates.
The game hasn’t totally deviated from its original inception and fans will appreciate Goodell trying to keep it that way.
