Succession plan hovers over Roger Goodell’s contract situation
When making more than $60 million per year, it’s hard for anyone to have a bad week. Still, last week was not ideal for Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Beyond having two of his pet projects fail to muster sufficient owner support (tush push ban and playoff seeding changes), Goodell’s latest contract extension wasn’t finalized.
There was at least one report that it would be. However, no vote was taken on Goodell’s contract.
In a conversation with John Ourand of Puck, ESPN.com’s Seth Wickersham said that an extension will happen — but that owners want Goodell to focus on a succession plan.
“Owners would like to have a better sense of the bench,” Wickersham told Ourand.
The problem is that there isn’t much of a bench. And, frankly, there’s been a trend in recent years that, once an in-house name emerges as a potentially viable candidate to become the next commissioner, the person ends up not sticking around much longer.
From Dean Blandino to Chris Halpin to Tod Leiweke to Maryann Turcke, they came, they saw, and they were gone long before they could conquer.
At this point, there’s a generally-accepted belief in league circles that the folks who end up being long-term high-level executives at 345 Park Avenue are not regarded by the captain as viable candidates to take the helm.
Of course there’s a Game of Thrones/Succession-style drama at play here. There’s too much money and power riding on the job.
For Goodell, who has privately said there’s no way he’ll still be working when he’s 80, he’s only 14 years away from blowing out a full four score of candles. He has perfected the craft. He knows the personalities. He (usually) gets what he wants.
Where else would he make the kind of money he makes and (perhaps as importantly) wield the kind of power he wields? His only career objective was to become Commissioner of the NFL. He achieved the goal 19 years ago. For the dog who chased the car, caught it, and is now surfing on the hood, why stop?
Still, the owners need to be ready for life after Goodell. The longer they aren’t, the more they need Goodell to not go.