Imagine this if you will. Just visualize the insanity I speak of. As the chairman of a large corporation, you have a great relationship with your board but a lousy one with all of your other employees. Probably not the recipe for a rather large contract extension you would not think? Only in the bizarro world that is the NFL would this craziness ever actually take place.
Despite all of the chaos that has occurred in the back offices, in court, and on the field, Roger Goodell has received a five year contract extension through the 2024 NFL season. Looks like money talks to the owners, really all they care about in NFL world. The extension starts at the end of his current contract, which runs out in 2019. Terms were not directly disclosed, but it is thought to be for around 40-42 million dollars annually (sorry that is not a misprint).
Goodell Still Has The Owner’s Support
Goodell took on probably the two most powerful owners in the NFL in Kraft and Jones. But that does not seem to have cracked the foundation holding up that giant inflated head of Goodell. The owners appear to be solidly on Goodell’s side as long as the NFL machine continues to make money.
Both of Goodell’s run-ins with the Patriots (I won’t even say anything about, this I promise) and the Cowboys involved player suspensions. I personally thought that the owners would turn on Goodell like a pack of wolves with these suspensions. Brady’s four-game sentence came right out of the Dark Ages, requiring no proof if the Overlord (that’s Goodell by the way) wants things to happen a certain way. That’s enough of the old wound, Pats’ fans. The suspension that the NFL and mainly Goodell levied against Ezekiel Elliott seemed along the same lines, in my opinion. Elliott avoided a criminal offence charge, but the NFL forged ahead with a six-game suspension. I am not saying that Elliott is a model citizen, but six games seems like a hefty suspension without the man even getting criminally charged. If the Overlord wants it to happen, then damn it make it happen, he says. Let’s not forget the whole “Bountygate” fiasco where Goodell hung the entire Saints organization out to dry because he felt like he should. Ridiculous.
Show Me The Money
The NFL has taken a hit in the ratings department recently, but that does not stop the cash from flowing into the NFL vault. The league makes bushels from TV rights, merchandise sales, multimedia rights, and ticket sales, the rationale for owners signing Goodell to the whopping extension. If the owners are making money and Goodell takes the flak for all of the stupid moves he makes, then they will welcome him with open arms.
Another reason that Goodell gets the owners’ blessings? There will likely be labor unrest when the current CBA ends in 2021. Goodell and the owners previously locked out the players and hammered out a deal that has benefited the owners handsomely. The players got screwed in the current CBA and the owners made out like champs, and this is what the owners are hoping for again. I will bet you that the whole mess of guaranteed contracts will be the stickiest point for the two sides to deal with, That will be a nasty negotiation and may require a long work stoppage.
Can The Clown Negotiate A New TV Deal?
Goodell’s biggest challenge, outside of the new CBA, will be negotiating the new TV contracts for the NFL. The cable companies have crapped the bed and only the major networks will be carrying around any cash for the NFL. I do not see how they will be offering the enormous dollar figures that the league has become accustomed to. Let’s see how Goodell will spin that around to make it look like someone else’s fault.
To sum things up, you can be a gem of a person to your immediate superiors who are the NFL owners and you will receive a great new contract. It does not matter that you treat the actual employees of the company (the players) like a herd of cattle. Goodell does not believe that the growing body of evidence that playing football causes head injuries has merit. This fact alone makes Goodell a major idiot in my books. How can you deny something so obvious? Simply ridiculous to believe otherwise. Oh yeah, because the owners want him to think that way. Goodell might be an ass, but he is a rich one that is way up the owners’ butts.