Roger Goodell was born on 19th February 1959 in Jamestown, New York. He is an American businessman who is currently the Commissioner of the National Football League (NFL).
On 8th August 2006, he took over the position from the previous Commissioner, Paul Tagliabue. Winning the place over four other finalists, he won by a close vote on the fifth ballot before being picked and approved by choice of the owners. He officially began working in this new chapter on 1st September 2006, just before the beginning of the 2006 NFL season.
Commentators of the sport and many that know him have described him as “the most powerful man in sports.”
Early Life
He was born into a prominent New York family, the son of United States Senator Charles Ellsworth Goodell and Jean Goodell.
He graduated from Bronxville High School, where sports were already a popular hobby for him. He played football, basketball, and baseball all to a very high level. He captained all three teams as a senior and was also named the school’s athlete of the year.
He carried on to study and graduated from Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, taking with him a degree in economics. With sport still high up on his day to day activities, he, unfortunately had reoccurring injuries that held him from playing college football to a high standard.
Professional Career
Goodell began his NFL career in 1982 as an administrative intern in the NFL HQ offices in New York City. He was working for the Commissioner at the time, Pete Rozelle.
In 1983, he briefly joined forces with the New York Jets franchise as an intern, but soon after only a year, he returned to NFL in 1984 as an assistant within the public relations department.
In 1987, this young professional became assistant to the president of the American Football Conference, Lamar Hunt. It was during this position when his time became filled with a variety of football and business operative roles, eventually working up the ranks and finishing with a promotion into the NFL’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 2001.
As the NFL’s Chief Operating Officer, Goodell took responsibility for the league’s football operations and officiating, as well as supervising the league’s business decisions.
He fronted the NFL’s primary driving force of the business, which included the likes of media properties, marketing, and sales, stadium development, all with strategic planning and thought. He also played a massive role in league expansion, realignment, branching the league into as many other outside ventures as he could, including the launch of the NFL Network and securing new television agreements.
On 8th August 2006, this businessman was chosen to succeed in the previous National Football League commissioner, Paul John Tagliabue, and stepped into office on the 1st of September 2006. He made his highest priority, “protecting the shield” (a reference to safeguarding the integrity of the NFL as represented by the league’s shield logo).
One of the first significant changes for this man to bring to the game as Commissioner was a personal conduct policy, which led to the arrest of several NFL players. The System made Goodell almost judge like when it came to punishing players for their on and off the field behavior. In 2014 Ray Rice of the Baltimore Ravens was charged with assault after punching his girlfriend in a casino elevator. Goodell initially suspended him for two games (which got critics for being too lenient), but after security footage of the punch was leaked, Goodell suspended Rice indefinitely.
As well as being at the forefront and managing the fallout that led from many similar stories related to the conduct policy, Goodell also had to oversee the NFL’s response to the growing evidence of concussion induced brain damage in football players. In 2013 the NFL settled a $765 million lawsuit with over 4,500 retired players of the game who claimed that the league failed to communicate the long term risks from playing a sport with such violent actions. With the Commissioner’s support, the league put in place many rule changes, including increased punishments for hits and tackles to defenseless players, to try to lessen the in-game concussions during a game.
Roger Goodell Net Worth 2024 and Personal Life
In October 1997, Goodell married former Fox News Channel presenter Jane Skinner, and together they have twin daughters, born in 2001.
As of 2024, Roger Goodell has an estimated net worth of $170 million.
