Next NFL Commissioner - Meeting in Chicago - August 7-9/06.

[MJZiggy]

That's what you get for taking the summer off. You will catch up with all of the camp reports and the multitude of pics you will be posting, right?

[Harlan Huckleby]

GBRulz is just Tank's second account. You have to add their post totals.

Way to fool'um!

[woodbuck27]

Posted on Sun, Aug. 06, 2006

NFL owners gather to select Tagliabue's successor
By Don Pierson

Chicago Tribune

(MCT)

CHICAGO - Chicago was the beginning of the reign of NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, and Chicago is expected to be the beginning for heir-apparent Roger Goodell when owners convene here Monday to elect Tagliabue's successor.

Tagliabue's election wasn't as easy as it should be for Goodell. In 1989, former Bears general manager Jim Finks was on the verge of being named Pete Rozelle's successor when a group of new owners led by the Dallas Cowboys' Jerry Jones gathered enough support to slow the old-guard owners committed to Finks. A computer problem at O'Hare delayed incoming flights and the start of the meeting, allowing the insurgency to gain momentum.

The new owners were more concerned about being left out of the process than they were concerned about Finks. The Chicago meeting reconvened in Dallas and later in Cleveland over a four-month period before Tagliabue was chosen on the 12th ballot.

This time electing anybody other than Goodell would be a much bigger upset than Tagliabue edging Finks. The five finalists will have a chance to present their cases in front of owners, and Goodell is the only one who won't have to introduce himself. Voting isn't scheduled to begin until Tuesday.

Goodell, 47, started working in the league office under Rozelle and has served as Tagliabue's right-hand man and chief operating officer. Much better known in league circles and more prepared than either Rozelle or Tagliabue, Goodell is most familiar to owners as the point man in building and financing stadiums.

In Tagliabue's 17-year reign, 23 stadiums for 24 teams have been built or totally renovated or are in the planning stages_many with Goodell as a guiding force. Goodell needs 22 votes to become commissioner.

Though it is not always easy to be the front-runner, Goodell would appear to have a sizable lead on a field with only peripheral NFL experience.

Mayo Shattuck, 51, has become most well known in the last week because the Baltimore Ravens selected his 39-year-old wife as the oldest cheerleader in the NFL. Shattuck is chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of Constellation Energy.

Gregg Levy, 53, is a partner in the Washington law firm of Covington & Burling, which is what Tagliabue's job was when he was elected. Levy was lead counsel in the Maurice Clarett case, in which a decision to let the former Ohio State running back enter the draft a year before league rules stipulated was overturned on appeal.

Frederick Nance, 52, is managing partner in the Cleveland office of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. The only African-American finalist, he handled negotiations for the city of Cleveland when the Browns returned to the NFL in 1999 and was the lawyer for the group that developed construction of the Browns' new stadium.

Robert Reynolds, 54, has been vice president of Fidelity's management trust company and held several executive jobs with the firm before that. He was recommended by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a member of the eight-man selection committee that includes Jones, the Bears' Michael McCaskey, the Pittsburgh Steelers' Dan Rooney, the Carolina Panthers' Jerry Richardson, the New York Jets' Woody Johnson, the Oakland Raiders' Al Davis and the Kansas City Chiefs' Lamar Hunt.

Rich McKay, the Atlanta Falcons' general manager and co-chairman of the Competition Committee, was one of the better-known candidates already eliminated. So was Jeff Pash, league executive vice president, chief administrative officer and in-house counsel, and Eric Grubman, league executive vice president of finance.

Speculation is the committee didn't want to divide loyalties within the efficient league structure, which would be threatened with upheaval if anyone other than Goodell is elected.

As NFL executive vice president and chief operating officer since 2001, Goodell's responsibilities include serving as president of NFL Ventures Inc., which oversees the league's business units. Goodell supervises all league business operations, including media properties, marketing and sales, consumer products, international, stadium development, special events and strategic planning. He also is responsible for football operations and officiating.

Goodell began his NFL career in 1982 as an intern in the New York office. In 1983 he worked in public relations and administration with the New York Jets, then returned to the league office in 1984 as a public relations assistant. In 1987 Rozelle appointed him assistant to the president of the American Football Conference, Lamar Hunt.

Most recently Goodell played a key role in the launch of the NFL Network, restructuring of the NFL's business units and negotiations for the NFL's television agreements and collective-bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association.

Goodell graduated from Washington & Jefferson College in 1981 with a degree in economics. Politically connected, he is the son of Charles Goodell, former U.S. senator from New York appointed by former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in 1968 after the assassination of Robert Kennedy. Wife Jane is the daughter of former U.S. Transportation Secretary Sam Skinner.

If it takes more than one ballot to elect Goodell, it's because owners want to remind the candidates who the real bosses are. It's not necessary, but NFL owners have been known to belabor the obvious.

[woodbuck27]

It certainly appears that Roger Goodell will be the next NFL Commish:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/sports/football/08nfl.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[woodbuck27]

New NFL Commissioner Gets Thumbs Up From Harlan

by Mike Spofford, Packers.com

posted 08/08/2006

Green Bay Packers Chairman and CEO Bob Harlan believes the NFL will maintain its continuity and labor peace with the selection Tuesday of Roger Goodell to succeed Paul Tagliabue as league commissioner.

Harlan was in Chicago representing the Packers at the owners' meetings the past two days, which included presentations by each of the five finalists for commissioner and round-robin interviews with each finalist by groups of eight owners.

Goodell has been Tagliabue's top assistant and in 2000 became the NFL's chief operating officer.

While praising the quality of the group of finalists (which also included lawyers Gregg Levy and Frederick Nance; Fidelity Investments vice chairman Robert Reynolds; and Constellation Energy chairman Mayo Shattuck III), Harlan believes Goodell's intimate knowledge of the league and its components makes him the right individual to succeed Tagliabue, who served as commissioner the past 17 years.

"With someone who was coming from the outside, I was concerned about how long it would take that individual to get to know the 32 different owners, the different concerns of the 32 clubs and what we faced as a league," Harlan said. "That's something Roger has been through and he's ready to start tomorrow.

"He's ready to step in and run with it, and I thought that was very important."

Harlan added Goodell is probably best suited to continue the ongoing labor peace the league has enjoyed under Tagliabue, and he also feels Goodell is acutely aware of the challenges facing a franchise like the Green Bay Packers to stay economically competitive in the league's smallest market.

"I think he understands it from top to bottom," Harlan said. "He came in to see us when we were getting ready to start the stadium referendum, and he sat with me at one game and kept saying to me, 'I can totally understand why you want to save this stadium.'

"He understands our needs and where we're coming from, that revenue sharing and the salary cap are the lifeblood of this franchise in the future."

[woodbuck27]

A Look At The New NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/08/AR2006080801618.html