Roger Goodell

Roger Stokoe Goodell is an American businessman who has served as the commissioner of the National Football League since 2006.
Goodell began his NFL career in 1982 as an administrative intern in the league office in New York under then-Commissioner Pete Rozelle. The position was secured through a letter-writing campaign to the league office and each of its then 28 teams. In 1983, he joined the New York Jets as an intern, but returned to the league office in 1984 as an assistant in the public relations department.
In 1987, Goodell was appointed assistant to the president of the American Football Conference, Lamar Hunt, and under the Commissioner Paul Tagliabue filled a variety of football and business operations roles, culminating with his appointment as the NFL's executive vice president and chief operating officer in December 2001. As the NFL's COO, Goodell took responsibility for the league's football operations and officiating, as well as supervised league business functions. He headed NFL Ventures, which oversees the league's business units, including media properties, marketing and sales, stadium development, and strategic planning.
Goodell participated in the negotiation of the collective bargaining agreement with the NFLPA and NFL owners during the summer of 2011. He also played a role in league expansion, realignment, and stadium development, including the launch of the NFL Network and securing new television agreements.

Early life

Goodell was born in Jamestown, New York, on February 19, 1959, to United States Senator Charles Ellsworth Goodell of New York and his first wife, Jean Goodell, of Buffalo, New York. Goodell graduated from Bronxville High School where, as a three-sport star in football, basketball, and baseball, he captained all three teams as a senior and was named the school's athlete of the year. Injuries kept him from playing college football. Goodell is a 1981 graduate of Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Economics.

As NFL Commissioner

Selection

When Tagliabue retired, Goodell was one of the candidates in contention for the position. In the second and third ballots, Goodell and Gregg Levy were the only candidates to receive votes. Goodell increased his lead to 21–10 after the fourth ballot, falling one vote shy of election, but on the fifth round of voting two owners swung their votes to him to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority. The Oakland Raiders abstained from the voting in each round.
On August 8, 2006, Goodell was chosen to succeed Tagliabue; he assumed office on September 1, the date Tagliabue was required to step down.

Actions

Goodell has said that his primary responsibility as commissioner is protecting the integrity of the game and making it safer—"protecting the shield", as he puts it. However, some of his actions in this regard have been met with criticism.
In 2014, Goodell was awarded the third highest honor within the Department of the Army Civilian Awards scheme, the Outstanding Civilian Service Award, for substantial contributions to the US Army community while serving as the NFL commissioner.

NFL in Europe

The spring league NFL Europe, founded in 1995 and since 2004 with five of six teams based in Germany, was shut down by Goodell after the 2007 season. The NFL International Series began in October 2007 with regular season games in London.

Player conduct policy

In April 2007, following a year of significant scandal surrounding some NFL players' actions off the field, Goodell announced a new NFL Personal Conduct Policy. Tennessee Titans cornerback Pacman Jones and Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry were the first two players to be suspended under the new policy, and Chicago Bears defensive lineman Tank Johnson was suspended months later because of his conduct involving weapon ownership and drunk driving.
On August 31, 2007, Goodell suspended Dallas Cowboys quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson for five games and fined him US$100,000 and suspended New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison for four games without pay, after they admitted the use of banned substances for medical purposes and to accelerate healing, respectively. The league indicated to Wilson that his more severe penalty was because they held "people in authority in higher regard than people on the field." Goodell has also imposed suspensions on the following players for conduct:

Date suspended	Suspension length	Name	Position	Team at the time of suspension
April 10, 2007	Entire 2007 season	Adam "Pacman" Jones	Cornerback	Tennessee Titans
April 10, 2007	First 8 games of 2007 season	Chris Henry	Wide receiver	Cincinnati Bengals
June 4, 2007	First 8 games of 2007 season	Terry "Tank" Johnson	Defensive tackle	Chicago Bears
August 24, 2007 – July 27, 2009	Suspended for the first two regular season games in the 2009 season and could play by week three of the season. He can play the final two pre-season games.	Michael Vick	Quarterback	Atlanta Falcons
October 14, 2008	Indefinite	Adam "Pacman" Jones	Cornerback	Dallas Cowboys
August 13, 2009	Entire 2009 Season	Donté Stallworth	Wide receiver	Cleveland Browns
April 21, 2010	First 6 games of 2010 season	Ben Roethlisberger	Quarterback	Pittsburgh Steelers
November 29 – December 11, 2011	Weeks 13 and 14 of 2011 season	Ndamukong Suh	Defensive tackle	Detroit Lions
September 7, 2014 – November 2014	First two weeks of 2014 season plus ten additional weeks	Ray Rice	Running back	Baltimore Ravens

In addition to suspensions, Goodell has also fined players for on-field misconduct. For example, on October 19, 2010, the NFL handed out fines to Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson, and New England Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather after they were involved in controversial hits the previous Sunday. Goodell released a memo to every team in the league stating that "It is clear to me that further action is required to emphasize the importance of teaching safe and controlled techniques, and of playing within the rules." The NFL's reaction to the hits was itself controversial and Goodell came under criticism from players like Troy Polamalu, who felt he had assumed too much control and power over punishment towards players and was making wrong decisions.
Two national political advocacy groups, CREDO and UltraViolet have submitted a petition with over 100,000 signatures calling on Goodell and the NFL to "address its domestic violence problem." This came after Ray Rice was suspended for two games when he was accused of assaulting his then fiancée, Janay Palmer, who is now his wife.

Handling of Spygate and the ordered destruction of Patriots' film tapes

On September 13, 2007, Goodell disciplined the New England Patriots and head coach Bill Belichick after New England attempted to videotape the defensive signals of the New York Jets from an illegal position on September 9. In the aftermath, Belichick was fined the league maximum of $500,000. The Patriots themselves were fined $250,000 and had to forfeit a first round pick in the 2008 NFL draft. As part of Goodell's probe into the allegations, the NFL required the Patriots to turn over any and all notes and tapes relating to the taping of opponents' defensive signals. The Patriots did not want the video tapes to leave their facilities, so league officials, by order of Goodell, went to the Patriots' athletic facilities and proceeded to smash the tapes. The decision to destroy the tapes was controversial. Goodell said that he had come down hard on the Patriots because he felt Belichick's authority over football operations was such that his decisions were "properly attributed" to the Patriots as well. Goodell said he considered suspending Belichick, but decided against it because he felt fining them and stripping them of a draft pick were "more effective" than a suspension.

Involvement in the 2011 NFL lockout

Outside of player conduct, Goodell is also known for his work in the 2011 NFL lockout. Prior to the start of the 2011 NFL season, Goodell worked with NFL owners and the NFLPA on settling the NFL lockout which ran from March 11 to August 5. During the lockout, at the request of some NFL teams, he held conference calls with season ticket holders where he discussed the collective bargaining agreement and conducted question-and-answer sessions on various NFL topics.

Handling of Bountygate

In March 2012, Goodell revealed evidence that players and coaches on the New Orleans Saints had instituted a bounty program in which Saints defensive players were paid bonuses for deliberately knocking opposing players out of games. Then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams administered the program, and as many as 27 Saints defensive players were involved. Later that month, Goodell handed down some of the harshest penalties in NFL history. He suspended Williams, who had left to become defensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams, indefinitely. Goodell also suspended head coach Sean Payton for the entire 2012 season, general manager Mickey Loomis for eight games and assistant head coach Joe Vitt for six games. Additionally, the Saints themselves were fined a league maximum $500,000 and had to forfeit their second round draft picks in 2012 and 2013. Goodell was particularly upset that those involved in the program lied about it during two separate league investigations of the program. Sanctions for players were not handed down at the time, and Goodell stated he would refrain from penalizing players until the NFLPA completed its investigation of the affair.