The Steelers have had three coaches since 1969. The NFL has had three Commissioners since 1960.
The current Commissioner, Roger Goodell, got the job 18 years ago today. He was elected on the fifth ballot as the successor to Paul Tagliabue, who served from 1990 through 2006.
Goodell, who was 47 at the time, had spent 24 years in the NFL. Goodell testified in June during the Sunday Ticket antitrust class action that he was rejected 53 times for employment by the NFL and its teams.
Ultimately, he landed a four-month internship with the league. He then had an internship with the Jets before returning to the league office and staying put.
The league has been wildly successful under his stewardship. Money has skyrocketed. Franchise values are through the roof. The NFL has morphed from a sports league to a media company, with more than 60 percent of the revenue coming from TV rights.
He’s under contract through 2027. It remains to be seen whether he’ll retire at that point.
Why would he? He has perfected the job. He’s a pin cushion for the owners, and he deftly handles the media through press conferences and a handful of annual interviews.
The NFL enjoys a position of strength, as to all of its partners from the NFL Players Association to every network that televises pro football. And even though he works for the owners, he knows how to work the owners to get what he wants, including last year’s effort to create a flex option for Thursday Night Football.
Eighteen years in, he still wants 18 games. He’ll get it. If he wants nineteen, he’ll get it. If he wants 20, he’ll get it.
And he’ll get to stay as long as he wants. Largely because there’s no apparent successor to the throne he has held for an entire generation of football.
Are there threats? Sure. But Goodell and the NFL tends to face them and beat them. Including, as of last week, the ruling that wiped out $14.1 billion in potential antitrust liability arising from Sunday Ticket.