Roger Goodell Expected To Sign Multi-Year Extension

4:06pm: Mark Maske of the Washington Post tweets that Goodell’s deal is “all but done.” He adds that this extension is expected to run through the spring of 2027, meaning it would indeed constitute three years tacked on to the one remaining on his existing pact.

3:44pm: At the upcoming NFL owners’ meetings, a deal giving the league continuity at the top is likely to be finalized. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that commissioner Roger Goodell is expected to sign a multi-year contract extension later this month.

Goodell is under contract through the 2023 season, after his most recent extension was signed in 2017. That, in turn, came amidst the brief expectation that he would retire in 2024. Instead, he will continue in his current post for years to come. Schefter notes that the owners and Goodell have discussed a three-year, incentive-laden extension, though no concrete terms have been agreed upon at this point.

In any event, it is likely this latest deal will be the final one for Goodell. The 64-year-old has been in place as commissioner since 2006 and worked under four different contracts already. That has given him substantial earnings over the course of his career, and puts him essentially in line with predecessors Pete Rozelle and Paul Tagliabue in terms of age at the time their respective tenures came to an end.

Goodell’s tenure has seen a number of controversies emerge throughout his tenure, including the threat of legal action between the league and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in the build-up to Goodell’s 2017 deal. This latest one is not expected to pass with anywhere near as much issue, a testament to the regard he his held in by the owners. Labor peace has been ensured with a long-term CBA agreement ratified in 2020 as part of negotiations over revenue sharing and a general increase in player compensation.

The COVID-19 pandemic provided a new set of challenges for the league, but all scheduled games were completed without players being required to take on reduced compensation despite lost revenues. The latter point is one which “has not been lost on owners,” Schefter adds. After a one-year dip, the league’s salary cap is set for years of healthy growth for the foreseeable future.

The largest reason for that, of course, is the new slate of TV and streaming rights deals Goodell helped negotiate recently. Those long-term agreements have secured billions of dollars in new money for the league and its owners, a continuation of the financial success which has been chief among the positives in Goodell’s tenure. They, as evidenced by another new deal being on the horizon, clearly outweigh the negatives surrounding himself and the league in recent years.

Schefter notes that this latest extension has been worked on for the past year, and will likely lead Goodell and other members of the league to begin seriously searching for his successor. If the deal is indeed finalized in the coming days, though, there will be little immediate urgency for that process.

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