NFL Commissioner Goodell Discussion

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If you haven't been keeping up with events out of the last owners meeting or comments from Roger Goodell, it's probably time you did.

The NFL is on the verge of some of the biggest changes seen in possibly decades and Roger is not only the architect but he plans to be the builder.

Recent article on what he's been talking about :

LONDON – Roger Goodell wants to be a man of the world. Literally. The NFL commissioner would like his sport to go global, which is why he's here this week and why we're here this week and why the Chargers and Saints will play a game tomorrow on British lawn.

Goodell wants to internationalize professional football. Big, bigger, biggest.

In 2005, the NFL held its first regular-season game outside the U.S., in Mexico City. Goodell wasn't on the bridge then. After he took office, the Giants and Dolphins played here in 2007. Now a deal has been struck. For the next three years, regular-season games will be played in London, beginning with Chargers-Saints. Also this year, the Buffalo Bills will play a game in Toronto.

Goodell is a dreamer. He even can see the day when an NFL franchise is headquartered overseas, although, when I ask him, he seems to doubt the Chargers will be moving to London anytime soon.
It's ambitious. There isn't much buzz around London over Chargers-Saints, but the commissioner is convinced his sport can cross borders. This game was an instant sellout.

“The mayor (of London) told me we could have sold the stadium out 10 different times,” he's saying in a room in his London hotel.

But there's a catch to all this. The economy. It isn't good, not just in the United States, but here, there and most places. The NFL charges a lot of money for season tickets, which are purchased by working people maybe not as well off today as they were yesterday. It has several corporate partners, many of them not as pink as they were a year ago. TV network money, provided by sponsors, drives The League.

“We're certainly not resistant to this,” Goodell says of the economic downturn. “It's going to impact us in three buckets.

“First, how it affects the league directly. The good news is that the NFL is extremely well-respected and is managed properly, and by that I mean from a team standpoint.

“Second, our business partners. A lot of our business partners are going through difficult times. They have to be sensitive to what's happening now.

“Third, and most important, how does it affect our fans? If they have less disposable income, we have to be sensitive to that.”

Still, it's unlikely we'll see a rapid drop in ticket prices.

“Teams determine their own ticket prices,” he says. “The fact that we're 98 percent sold out indicates teams are making the right decisions.”

But, as Goodell knows, the real impact of the economic crisis on the NFL won't be known for a while. Season tickets for this season were sold before the crunch. The Chargers, for example, really don't begin their season-ticket drive until January.

But Goodell remains beyond bully on his game being a big deal overseas, and he can envision a team permanently placed beyond U.S. borders.

“You certainly can't rule it out,” he says. “We'll continue to feed the market and see how it develops.

“We're growing (overseas) and the facts support it. Last year's regular-season game here stimulated interest. There's a great deal of interest and we're following that interest. It gives us the opportunity to deliver more football to more fans.

“This game is going live on BBC. That's never before happened. Television viewership (in England) after last year's game went up 40 percent. The BBC will run the Super Bowl live this year (along with Sky Network), and that's extraordinary. Go to Mexico in the fall. It's like being in the United States.”

One way to make internationalization palatable is to shrink the preseason and add more regular-season games. It's no secret Goodell is a proponent of cutting back exhibitions. New Orleans, for example, is losing a home game.

“That's one drawback,” he says. “We've tried to be very careful, with a very limited number of games (overseas). If we limit the number of (exhibition) games to two or three, we can add another game (or maybe two overseas).

“I don't think the quality of the preseason is up to NFL standards. Talking to coaches and personnel, I don't think we need four preseason games. The two purposes of the preseason are to get players ready and to evaluate talent.”

Goodell says there are other ways, perhaps through spring games, or scrimmages, as they have on college campuses.

Alas, our chat eventually turns to San Diego, where the Chargers are trying to get a new stadium built. Goodell realizes that what was a tough sell may have just gotten tougher under this blistering economic sun.

“It's going to be challenging in this environment,” he admits. “Every community has its priorities. I agree, they're always tough (to get built), but we've had success getting them built.”

Except in California. Except in San Diego, Chula Vista, or wherever. But Goodell says he's willing to help any way he can.

“I'm always available,” he says, “but Deano (Chargers boss Dean Spanos) has been very aggressive, and we're very supportive.”

It's highly doubtful the Chargers will become England's Team. But don't be surprised to see an NFL club headquartered here one day, even though the majority of Brits speak soccer, rugby and even squash – when you can understand them.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/canepa/20081025-9999-1s25canepa.html



It would appear the London games are now a fixed part of the schedule.

It would also appear from other comments that a 2nd game in England and/or a Germany/Spain game is possible from next year.

Other changes being proposed :

- 18 week regular season
- pre-season reduced to 2 or 3 games and a two week break before week 1
- games played in neutral venues like in LA
- more games played internationally
- Pro Bowl being moved to the weekend before the Superbowl
- Pro Bowl being moved to the host city of the Superbowl
- relocation/expansion teams in new cities including internationally
- playoffs rankings to be by W/L rather than the current divisonal winner/wldcard format. Even pooling both AFC/NFC teams has been discussed rather than the winner of each meeting in the Superbowl.


While I don't see most of these changes coming in next season and most will probably depend on the next CBA, some of these changes will happen and will have a major impact on the game.

Thoughts?
 
Re: NFL 2009 & beyond - what will it look like?

Economic conditions might actually accelerate it gg.

Owners who are struggling to sell out stadiums might actually like the cash from losing a home game.

Don't be surprised if we start seeing games in places in LA because of it too.
 

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Re: NFL 2009 & beyond - what will it look like?

Economic conditions might actually accelerate it gg.

Owners who are struggling to sell out stadiums might actually like the cash from losing a home game.

Don't be surprised if we start seeing games in places in LA because of it too.

Games around North America is a given (mexico, canada), but i think the off-shore vision is longer away.

Ok you can guarantee that London would sell 10 games a season....as per Goodell. That indicates a 20 game regular season in the plans. Dont think that's feasible, but say 8 games a year in London, sure. They'll sell out. But the corporate support from London will need to weather the economic crash. And if there's a 'depression' then people arent gonna afford tickets in time. Depends how bad the bottoming out is of the economic crash we're going thru now. The worst hasnt been seen yet. So once that all goes away, then we'll see new franchises. London, Germany (pretty much a few key cities that used to exist in the old NFL Europe days.) But definitely Mexico City and Toronto and LA eventually. Not hard because they're on the continent.
 
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Re: NFL 2009 & beyond - what will it look like?

Probably would have to get to a point where you have like 16 International teams and 16 National teams. National Football Conference. International Football Conference. NFC/IFC. That kind of vision is many years away.

But they could have like 5 teams a divsion, another 8 (international) teams brought in, but those billionaires will need economic stability for their own personal wealth to be there and to procure ticket and merchandise sales and other corporate support for their team to be there.
 
Re: NFL 2009 & beyond - what will it look like?

Goodell is hell bent on leaving his mark on the game.

Some of the stuff being proposed makes sense but others is head scratching:

- 18 week regular season Sure we all want to see more football, but the players associated will be very influencial here, expect a 15% across the board increase in salary cap, season ticket prices, TV deals etc etc.
- pre-season reduced to 2 or 3 games and a two week break before week 1 Makes sense if the season is expanded, didn't they also used to have a two week break before?
- games played in neutral venues like in LA If playing games in LA is designed to increase fan interest the people of LA should never have let the Raiders and Rams get away in the first place.
- Pro Bowl being moved to the host city of the Superbowl The Pro Bowl is a nice end of season holiday for probowlers, family and friends not sure some of the Super Bowl host cities would be the greatest attraction to some.
- relocation/expansion teams in new cities including internationally Sure, lets dilute the standard of competition even more, just like the AFL
- playoffs rankings to be by W/L rather than the current divisonal winner/wldcard format. Even pooling both AFC/NFC teams has been discussed rather than the winner of each meeting in the Superbowl. I like the current play off system, at least there is some semblence of parity between teams competing for the same playoff spots.
 
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Re: NFL 2009 & beyond - what will it look like?

Im not a fan of changing the playoff or divisional formats, or the SB being just top 2 teams irrespective of conference. There's a whole history and reasoning behind AFC/NFC.

However, some years ago I wrote a letter to Taglibeau where I outlined a possible format where you have east, west, north, south divisions basically. And so you pool geographic teams together, they predominantly play their schedules, and from that comes your playoff teams (no conferences) and it leads to a Superbowl of the best two teams. The idea here was to create geographic rivalries like you have in the NCAA.

What im saying is, there are some good different ideas. And they would work. I can envision a change to the AFC/NFC thing because it's redundant now. It meant something originally before the leagues aligned, but since then, especially now, they're all the same really.
 
Re: NFL 2009 & beyond - what will it look like?

Im not a fan of changing the playoff or divisional formats, or the SB being just top 2 teams irrespective of conference. There's a whole history and reasoning behind AFC/NFC.

However, some years ago I wrote a letter to Taglibeau where I outlined a possible format where you have east, west, north, south divisions basically. And so you pool geographic teams together, they predominantly play their schedules, and from that comes your playoff teams (no conferences) and it leads to a Superbowl of the best two teams. The idea here was to create geographic rivalries like you have in the NCAA.

What im saying is, there are some good different ideas. And they would work. I can envision a change to the AFC/NFC thing because it's redundant now. It meant something originally before the leagues aligned, but since then, especially now, they're all the same really.

So that was you who got the re-aligning of divisions? gg the idealist. :thumbsu: But the NO Conferences concept fell on deaf ears. ;).

I read the 18 game schedule concept and personally it's not going to improve the comp, just more $$$ income for the league / teams. I like it as it is. 16 weeks is ideal. Why fix something that isn't broke? :rolleyes:

Your idea, gg, is the 'perfect world' structure but we unfortunately have folk that don't care for perfection. Too complicated for the simple people. :D
 
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Re: NFL 2009 & beyond - what will it look like?

One of the reasons Taglibeau's secretary gave me 'against' the idea was that you would be re-aligning long-time rivals like Dallas into a South Division away from traditional rivals like New York, Washington, and Philadelphia.

But i mean, they took Atlanta away from the old NFC West rivals. Took Seattle away from the AFC West rivals, and even moved them to the NFC. Etc.

My concept was this....

West, East, South, North more strict geographic placement, 8 teams. 14 home and away games. Plus 4 games against a select 4 teams from another division which rotates every year neatly. {4,4-east, 4,4-south, 4,4-north=total 6 years to play all teams in the NFL}

The West is easy. Where the most upheaval occurs is realigning the South/East.

You could have something like...

West: Oakland, Denver, Kansas City, San Diego, Seattle, San Francisco, St Louis, Arizona.

South: Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta, Tennessee, Tampa Bay, Miami, Jacksonville.

East: Carolina, Baltimore, New York, New York, Washington, Philadelphia, New England, Pittsburgh.

North: Chicago, Indianapolis, Minnesota, Green Bay, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Buffalo.

That's very geographically correct, and would see more interstate rivalry as well.
 
There will probably be no expansion teams out of America for at least another two decades. Imagine being told that you have to relocate to Mexico after living in Boston or New York your whole life? Or Being forced to move your whole family to England as a 7th round draft pick, just likely to move there, buy a house and get cut from the roster a few months afterwards.

Sure, international teams would be nice, but getting players to play for these teams would be difficult. Zone recruting isn't equal to all teams and the draft would never work with international teams. The better choice would be to improve the national leagues in other countries. Through that, the world cup could be more competitive and there should be more interest in gridiron, leading to an increase in merchandise sales.
 
Re: New Uniforms for 2010

The NFL has been over-run by AD and AA it seems. With all their "great" ideas.
Bring back Taglibeau! Goodell is rubbish.

Huh? AFL are nowhere near the standards.. it's 2010 and they're still yet to have organised an GF pre-game with any flair.. the AFL grey rules have corrupted (& crippled) the AFL game tenfold. Period!! Goodell has tweaked the NFL product with some good & bad... the over-celebrating rule fines were put in place to avoid unnecessary delays. The Late hits FINES have promoted a safer player environment but the 'differences in inconsistency' are still bothersome... (QB protection) AND the real bug bear is that the officiating has lost it's way under Goodell. Some officials are not NFL standard anymore.
 

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Re: New Uniforms for 2010

NFL is still the premier organizing sporting body that there can be, but Goodell is rubbish.

Does this explain why you don't like him whatsoever?

NFL commissioner selection
Goodell's selection as Commissioner following the retirement of Paul Tagliabue came as no surprise, but it was not a fait accompli. Tagliabue initiated a substantive, wide ranging search for his successor, appointing a committee headed by owner Dan Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Goodell was one of five finalists, joining Gregg Levy, Frederick Nance, Robert Reynolds, and Mayo Shattuck III. With 22 votes from the owners being needed to make a choice, Goodell, who oddsmakers had installed as a prohibitive 2:5 favorite to be selected, only garnered 15 votes to Levy's 13, with three votes scattered among the other candidates and the Oakland Raiders abstaining.
On the second and third ballots, Goodell and Levy were the only candidates to receive votes (Goodell 17, Levy 14). Goodell increased his lead to 21–10 after the fourth ballot, falling one vote shy of election, but on the fifth round of voting two owners swung their votes to him to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority.[2] The Oakland Raiders abstained from the voting in each round.
 
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Re: New Uniforms for 2010

Not to mention Goodell-Kraft Spygate fiasco, the softening of the game (some of it is ok, but a lot of it isn't), and other "great" ideas like overseas Super Bowls, taking the Pro-Bowl from Hawaii, etc. He's trying too hard, coming across like an AndyD trying to "stamp" himself, trying to "revolutionize" the NFL under his care.

Paul Taglibeau on the other hand, tho he had some faults, he was a great commish.
 
Re: New Uniforms for 2010

Not to mention Goodell-Kraft Spygate fiasco, the softening of the game (some of it is ok, but a lot of it isn't), and other "great" ideas like overseas Super Bowls, taking the Pro-Bowl from Hawaii, etc. He's trying too hard, coming across like an AndyD trying to "stamp" himself, trying to "revolutionize" the NFL under his care.

Paul Tagliabue on the other hand, tho he had some faults, he was a great commish.

Alot of it isn't? :confused: Please explain GG. & Why you're still following (the NFL) if you're feeling this way?

I can understand what your saying in one aspect and that's why I've lost alot of interest (read: RESPECT) for the AFL... players athletic ability is the only improvement but that doesn't outweigh so much 'political BS' that the game embraces. Most AFL media isn't worth the time & effort anymore either.
 

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Re: New Uniforms for 2010

NFL is still the premier organizing sporting body that there can be, but Goodell is rubbish.

The problem nowadays is competitions and their governing bodies are BUSINESSES run by businessmen rather than sporting bodies run by sporting people. It is all corporatised which means they have greater responsibilities to outside organisations than they do to the organisations they're set up to govern - the teams.

Further, there are immense similarities between the NFL and AFL when it comes to the threat of soccer and the "mum rule" where mums dont want their kids playing rough and tumble sports like US and Aussie Football.
 
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Re: New Uniforms for 2010

The problem nowadays is competitions and their governing bodies are BUSINESSES run by businessmen rather than sporting bodies run by sporting people. It is all corporatised which means they have greater responsibilities to outside organisations than they do to the organisations they're set up to govern - the teams.

Very well said.

Further, there are immense similarities between the NFL and AFL when it comes to the threat of soccer and the "mum rule" where mums dont want their kids playing rough and tumble sports like US and Aussie Football.

It's a bit different with american football because parents encourage their kids from a very young age to get into it for improving their kids---athletic health, discipline, socializing, making life-long friends, path to college, a degree, career, fortune and family help in the long-run. A lot like how military service was looked upon, and the violent aspect was always accepted as a flip-side to all the pros. Something happened in the last 10-20 years around the world that I don't quite understand in terms of sports getting softened. Hockey is still unaffected for instance.
 

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Re: New Uniforms for 2010

Hockey is still unaffected for instance.

Hockey is changing, only this week they outlawed the blindside hit and in the last few weeks they've laid down some serious bans for pushing opponents into the boards on a loose puck. Alex Ovechkin was made an example of which sends the message that no-one is untouchable anymore.
 

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Re: New Uniforms for 2010

They don't allow that sort of thing in Olympic hockey and it didn't affect that.
 

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