Let me start by saying I am not saying he is the best commissioner ever but from my perspective the hate that he receives is not warranted. I understand that a lot of people just need a face to place the blame on even if it's not all the face's fault.

 

I know many people who do not like Goodell because of all the rule changes, they think the NFL is turning into flag football. While that may be true why does that have to be Goodells fault? The NFL has a competition committee that makes rules... Anyone remember the KC player who killed his GF and then killed himself? Yea his mother is suing the Chiefs because she claims her son sustained head trauma. So is it really fair to blame the NFL for changing rules when they are getting sued right and left? 

 

I would seriously like to know 'real' reason why people dislike him. I am not interested in conspiracy theories about how Goodell is keeping the Jaguars down. Remember the commissioner is elected and I highly doubt a billionaire would vote to keep a man in power if his goal was to keep a NFL team down. So again, please present actual facts. I am very interested to learn why. 

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"Don't argue with an idiot, people watching may not be able to tell the difference."

Has he done anything positive for the league?

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So hate him because you feel he's done nothing positive for the league?

 

The NFL Commissioner is elected by the owners, his job is essentially to please the majority of the owners. Goodell has assisted in making the sport more year round for the fans. Tho many people may not like his enforcement of the rules (how dare he) that too helps the owners. The players want to get paid millions and millions then sue when after they have collected they were "injured". The NFL must do something so if the players want to keep suing the rules will get stricter and stricter all in the effort to save money for the very people that elect him. 

 

So to answer your question, he has done a lot positive for the people who elect him. If you think he has not done anything good...contact your favorite teams ownership, announce you are boycotting the team until they stand up and do what the fans want...

 

Your turn.

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"Don't argue with an idiot, people watching may not be able to tell the difference."

His insistence of pushing an 18 game schedule and the asinine proposition of a fulltime franchise in London make me want to donkey punch the commish. Both are awful, awful ideas. An 18 game schedule is a contradiction of his repeated claims of making the game safer. And a London franchise is a logistical nightmare. If India can form their own professional league www.efli.com, Europe surely can as well. Having teams fly 7 time zones to play a game is absurd.

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Only a chump boos the home team!

I don't like where football is going.  For instance, Thursday games are a bad idea.  Football seems to be very mediocre this year with the amount of injuries and practice squad players starting for teams.  Sunday and Monday night games ONLY.

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I don't like where football is going.  For instance, Thursday games are a bad idea.  Football seems to be very mediocre this year with the amount of injuries and practice squad players starting for teams.  Sunday and Monday night games ONLY.

Thursday games are amazing and I hope it never ends. Who wouldn't want to watch more football during the week? 

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Players on every team say Thursday games don't allow them to properly rest and play at their best. I would rather see better games on Sundays and MNF.

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Only a chump boos the home team!

I don't care for Goodell's vision of the NFL because I feel like it has money as the top, middle, and bottom line. I'll try and list out my reasons for not liking his approach:

 

• All the man seems to care about is money, whether it's making it, or taking it away from players, and that's not how the League is best built and maintained in my opinion. If you build a good product, and keep the integrity of that product first and foremost in your mind/focus, then the people who enjoy it will always be there. If you try to manipulate your product towards people who are wishy-washy about it, then you will constantly be chasing a customer demographic and you run the risk of alienating your original fanbase.
  

 

• I feel like the League should abandon Thursday Night games pretty much altogether, it's simply too much strain on the players and the product suffers. Granted, football is on and everything, but it ain't top notch football, at least in my view. Goodell's insistence on pushing these games on the League is nothing more than him trying to grab the vaunted Thursday Night TV ratings. The sport suffers for it in my opinion, and the sport should never be made to suffer.
  

 

• His PR shtick. The whole "Player Safety is number one" stance and then he rolls out the desire to play two more games a season. His handling of Spygate in New England. He simply destroyed the evidence in order to protect the brand when all he did was hurt it. Hell, Nixon could have told him that was a bad idea. Basically, he isn't willing to ever let a bad light be shed on the NFL, when everyone knows that it's out there. The NFL isn't worse than any other entity, but it isn't any better either. Stop acting like it's all above inspection and stuff. The people will appreciate the honesty Roger!
  

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I'm trying to make myself more informed and less opinionated.

Stop saying whatever stupid thing you're talking about and pay attention to all the interesting things I have to say!

An NFL Commissioner is responsible for maintaining the game's integrity and oversee the business aspects of the NFL.  Roger was the COO prior to being made NFL Commissioner in 2006.  In his tenure he has made significant changes and penaltys to players & coaches.  If you were not a fan of those moves or his tact in performing them a great deal of hatred could occur.  As far as running the NFL as a business during really bad recession, amidst lawsuits from head injuries of active & former players, Referee ordeal, and players bargain agreement one could say he's done an average job.  I think that Paul Tagliabue was such a great commish that people hate Roger Goodell because they are comparing him to Paul's abilities and charm.  I agree I too have been made at some of the safety changes that have seem to taken a bit of the fun out of the game & turned into a huge passing league but if it can stop one player from being paralysed or dead isnt it worth it?

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Let me start by saying I am not saying he is the best commissioner ever but from my perspective the hate that he receives is not warranted. I understand that a lot of people just need a face to place the blame on even if it's not all the face's fault.

 

I know many people who do not like Goodell because of all the rule changes, they think the NFL is turning into flag football. While that may be true why does that have to be Goodells fault? The NFL has a competition committee that makes rules... Anyone remember the KC player who killed his GF and then killed himself? Yea his mother is suing the Chiefs because she claims her son sustained head trauma. So is it really fair to blame the NFL for changing rules when they are getting sued right and left? 

 

I would seriously like to know 'real' reason why people dislike him. I am not interested in conspiracy theories about how Goodell is keeping the Jaguars down. Remember the commissioner is elected and I highly doubt a billionaire would vote to keep a man in power if his goal was to keep a NFL team down. So again, please present actual facts. I am very interested to learn why.

Roger... Is that you?






On a serious note, I don't hate Goodell. The rule changes in some cases are misguided, but they are brought on more so by lawsuits from current and former players than by a perceived over zealous commissioner.

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Thursday games are amazing and I hope it never ends. Who wouldn't want to watch more football during the week? 

 

The quality of the games was usually terrible.

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;

;

I don't hate Goodell. 

 

I think he's been a bit heavy handed in the way he's handled punishment for players who have strayed from the righteous path and have threatened the well crafted PR image of the NFL shield.  I did agree with his changes to the player conduct rules, but I think the way he hands out punishment is pretty random depending on the violation.  I also don't like the fact that he has complete control over the punishment handed down, AND he hears the appeals.  That shouldn't be part of the commissioner's job role.

 

As far as rules changes go, he has nothing to do with that, so people who don't like him for that reason need to educate themselves because there's a committee responsible for rules.  He may express an opinion one way or the other, but he does not have a say in the rules applied on the field. 

 

The 18 game schedule would actually benefit the players AND the fans.  The pie would increase for the player's cut of the profits, and the fans would get 2 fewer meaningless preseason games.  From a season ticket holder's perspective, I would welcome an 18 game schedule because if I'm paying full price for my tickets anyway, I might as well see games that matter.

 

Again, for the Thursday night games, that's not the commissioner.  That's the NFL Network, owners, fans, and sponsors looking at having another opportunity to expand profitability within the league.  If there wasn't a demand for games on Thursday nights, they wouldn't play them.  Fans want it, sponsors are willing to pay for it, and there's a league owned network that wants the ratings and revenue. 

 

Under Goodell, the league has managed to maintain some level of labor harmony, avoiding any strikes that would impact regular season play.  He hasn't pandered to the NFLPA giving them everything they want, which is a good thing for the league. 

 

He also was instrumental in coming to an agreement with the retired players over the concussion lawsuit, committing more than 3/4 of a billion dollars. 

 

While I don't agree with his views on London or Los Angeles, I understand what he's trying to accomplish.  I just think he allows a lot of chatter about specific franchises, including the Jaguars, being in the mix for relocation when there's nothing to support this.

 

I think it's a pointless expectation to think the league isn't focused first and foremost on the bottom line.  While the NFL itself is a not for profit operation, the teams and the network are not.  What company doesn't want to maximize their profits? 

 

It would be nice to see him wade into the blackout rule debates because that's a rule that has served its purpose and can now go away. 

 

Goodell serves at the will of the owners, and they aren't calling for his head. 

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

The quality of the games was usually terrible.

 

Yeah I agree the game isn't usually the same quality.  It sucks for the teams to have to get ready to play so quickly after a Sunday game and the home team almost always wins on Thursday nights.  On the flip side, it is awesome for fans to go from a game on Monday night and have another game just 3 nights later.  And it is awesome for Jags fans especially because during the tenure of us being terrible, we've been usually given at least one prime time home game on a Thursday every year.  I'd like to see them wait on having Thursday night games until after the first Bye week at week 4 meaning Thursday night games would start on week 5 and would pit two teams coming off their byes against each other each week until all teams have had their bye. 

 

Usually there are 4 teams on a bye on a given week during the weeks that byes are part of the schedule so you'd either have to have two Thursday night games each week during that stretch if you still wanted to give each team a Thursday night game like the schedule currently does or go back to the days of teams having two byes per year.  The two bye scheduling sounds like a better idea to me

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A major concern of mine is that under Roger Goodell's leadership,  the NFL is seriously thinking about expanding the playoffs from 12 to either 14 or 16 teams.   

 

The playoff formula that exists right now is ideal.  Division winners are awarded at least one home game in the playoffs and the top 2 division winners in each conference get a bye.   Expanding the playoffs will lessen the importance of regular season games.   That much more if the NFL expands the playoffs to 16 teams and eliminates byes.  

 

While the NFL would have added revenue from more playoff games,  the incentive to watch regular season games,  especially when your favorite team isn't involved,  would be lessened significantly.     Teams with 8-8 or worse records getting into the playoffs would become common.   My interest in the NBA and NHL is minimal until the playoffs begin because 16 teams reach the playoffs and there are no byes. 

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I like how OP acted like Goodell himself then disappeared when the heat got heavy.

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Titansequaltrash aka my mini me. Follows me around like a cute puppy dog.

A major concern of mine is that under Roger Goodell's leadership,  the NFL is seriously thinking about expanding the playoffs from 12 to either 14 or 16 teams.   

 

The playoff formula that exists right now is ideal.  Division winners are awarded at least one home game in the playoffs and the top 2 division winners in each conference get a bye.   Expanding the playoffs will lessen the importance of regular season games.   That much more if the NFL expands the playoffs to 16 teams and eliminates byes.  

 

While the NFL would have added revenue from more playoff games,  the incentive to watch regular season games,  especially when your favorite team isn't involved,  would be lessened significantly.     Teams with 8-8 or worse records getting into the playoffs would become common.   My interest in the NBA and NHL is minimal until the playoffs begin because 16 teams reach the playoffs and there are no byes. 

 

I don't think expanding the playoffs to 14 teams is terrible.  You'd be giving the top seed only a bye and the 2 seed would be playing the 7 seed on wildcard weekend.  That's not drastically changing things too much.  I do agree that 16  teams is too much.  So half the league makes the playoffs?!?  Not a good idea.   But expanding to 14 would have allowed a hot Cardinals team into the playoffs this year and I would have enjoyed seeing that.

 

I am vehemently opposed to reseeding based on record alone.  People are up in arms that the 49ers have to go to Lambeau this year.  They aren't taking into account that the NFC West played the AFC South this year which in my estimation is the worst division in football at the moment.  Giving division champs a home game is the equalizer against a wildcard team that gets in and has a better record due to fortunate scheduling.  It also helps to foster deep rivalries between division opponents because the games are worth more and that is good for the game.

 

To further the point, the AFC West also played the AFC South this year and put 3 teams into the playoffs.  I'm not saying they shouldn't be there, but let's not gloss over the fact that they had an easier schedule than the rest of the AFC and start handing out home field advantage to a team like the Chiefs.

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His insistence of pushing an 18 game schedule and the asinine proposition of a fulltime franchise in London make me want to donkey punch the commish. Both are awful, awful ideas. An 18 game schedule is a contradiction of his repeated claims of making the game safer. And a London franchise is a logistical nightmare. If India can form their own professional league www.efli.com, Europe surely can as well. Having teams fly 7 time zones to play a game is absurd.

 

While I understand and agree on both fronts, is this really something that he should get all the blame for? 

 

"People want more football. I think they want less preseason and more regular season and that's the concept we are talking about here. We wouldn't add an extra two games without reducing the preseason, and we are not going to do it without the players support, so we did that in the collective bargaining agreement instead of having the unilateral right, which we had.

<p style="font-family:arial, verdana, helvetica;color:rgb(34,34,33);">"We determined that we were going to do this together. We are going to make changes in the offseason and during the preseason and during the regular season to make the game safer. If we can accomplish that, weâll look at the idea of restructuring the season and taking two preseason games away and the potential of adding regular season games. But I don't think that will happen until at least 2013 or 14."

 

I do 100% agree with you that a 18 game season is not a good idea, and I do not like the fact that he is pushing for it, but...that's his job. One of the things I like about the NFL is that it isn't all year long (the games). I don't watch basketball or baseball but those sports just seem to me to never have a true offseason, it seems like they play games 365 days a year. The London thing, if you hate Goodell for this do you hate Khan for pursuing it? I also do not like the games in London but I do not hate Goodell for it.

 

 

I don't care for Goodell's vision of the NFL because I feel like it has money as the top, middle, and bottom line. I'll try and list out my reasons for not liking his approach: 

 

• All the man seems to care about is money, whether it's making it, or taking it away from players, and that's not how the League is best built and maintained in my opinion. If you build a good product, and keep the integrity of that product first and foremost in your mind/focus, then the people who enjoy it will always be there. If you try to manipulate your product towards people who are wishy-washy about it, then you will constantly be chasing a customer demographic and you run the risk of alienating your original fanbase. 
  

 

• I feel like the League should abandon Thursday Night games pretty much altogether, it's simply too much strain on the players and the product suffers. Granted, football is on and everything, but it ain't top notch football, at least in my view. Goodell's insistence on pushing these games on the League is nothing more than him trying to grab the vaunted Thursday Night TV ratings. The sport suffers for it in my opinion, and the sport should never be made to suffer.
  

 

• His PR shtick. The whole "Player Safety is number one" stance and then he rolls out the desire to play two more games a season. His handling of Spygate in New England. He simply destroyed the evidence in order to protect the brand when all he did was hurt it. Hell, Nixon could have told him that was a bad idea. Basically, he isn't willing to ever let a bad light be shed on the NFL, when everyone knows that it's out there. The NFL isn't worse than any other entity, but it isn't any better either. Stop acting like it's all above inspection and stuff. The people will appreciate the honesty Roger!
  

 

 

Goodell is elected by the men who invest the money into the team, they are the ones who want more money, so in a way his job is to care about the money...top bottom and middle. Not that I agree or like it but that is his job.

 

As for him being interested in taking the money from the players, its about time the players started feeling the hurt in the wallets. These players are suing the NFL & its teams for injuries why should the players not have to pay for hurting? The NFL has paid millions and millions and millions of dollars to players who have been injured during their playing time, but everyone gets all upset because some players are getting fined thousands of dollars for hurting or taking action that increases the likely hood to hurt someone. 

 

As you see, some fans agree with you on the thursday night games..some disagree. I personally don't have an issue with the games, but I wouldn't care if they weren't there either. I respect your opinion on that.

 

On your third point, I will agree with it. I do agree that the "it's for players safety" is a lie. Sure that looks good on the cover but its about the money.

 

Good post thanks for sharing your opinions, I appreciate a good discussion rather than people slinging insults.

 

I don't hate Goodell. 

 

I think he's been a bit heavy handed in the way he's handled punishment for players who have strayed from the righteous path and have threatened the well crafted PR image of the NFL shield.  I did agree with his changes to the player conduct rules, but I think the way he hands out punishment is pretty random depending on the violation.  I also don't like the fact that he has complete control over the punishment handed down, AND he hears the appeals.  That shouldn't be part of the commissioner's job role.

 

As far as rules changes go, he has nothing to do with that, so people who don't like him for that reason need to educate themselves because there's a committee responsible for rules.  He may express an opinion one way or the other, but he does not have a say in the rules applied on the field. 

 

The 18 game schedule would actually benefit the players AND the fans.  The pie would increase for the player's cut of the profits, and the fans would get 2 fewer meaningless preseason games.  From a season ticket holder's perspective, I would welcome an 18 game schedule because if I'm paying full price for my tickets anyway, I might as well see games that matter.

 

Again, for the Thursday night games, that's not the commissioner.  That's the NFL Network, owners, fans, and sponsors looking at having another opportunity to expand profitability within the league.  If there wasn't a demand for games on Thursday nights, they wouldn't play them.  Fans want it, sponsors are willing to pay for it, and there's a league owned network that wants the ratings and revenue. 

 

Under Goodell, the league has managed to maintain some level of labor harmony, avoiding any strikes that would impact regular season play.  He hasn't pandered to the NFLPA giving them everything they want, which is a good thing for the league. 

 

He also was instrumental in coming to an agreement with the retired players over the concussion lawsuit, committing more than 3/4 of a billion dollars. 

 

While I don't agree with his views on London or Los Angeles, I understand what he's trying to accomplish.  I just think he allows a lot of chatter about specific franchises, including the Jaguars, being in the mix for relocation when there's nothing to support this.

 

I think it's a pointless expectation to think the league isn't focused first and foremost on the bottom line.  While the NFL itself is a not for profit operation, the teams and the network are not.  What company doesn't want to maximize their profits? 

 

It would be nice to see him wade into the blackout rule debates because that's a rule that has served its purpose and can now go away. 

 

Goodell serves at the will of the owners, and they aren't calling for his head. 

 

Yea I don't like how he is able to hand out the punishments and then he is also over the appeals seems kinda silly to me, but the blame for that should 'also' extend to D'Smith...that was in the CBA he should have gotten it out. 

 

 

I like how OP acted like Goodell himself then disappeared when the heat got heavy.

It's called sleep. I understand if you didn't realize it was nearly 3 am when I was talking about this.

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"Don't argue with an idiot, people watching may not be able to tell the difference."

Thursday games are amazing and I hope it never ends. Who wouldn't want to watch more football during the week? 

 

I wouldn't say they are amazing.  Some games this year are "exciting" to a lot of people.  What we have these days is parity in the extreme.  An objective view of most of these close games is that the games are close simply because the teams playing against each other are bad to mediocre.  Take, for instance, the end of the Ravens and Vikings games.  Sure, exciting to some people, but in reality, its just bad football.  In my opinion, the product on the field has taken a hit and is showing its ugly head this year.  No offense to Peyton Manning, but that many touchdowns in a single season is nuts.  Also, the NFL should not be so arrogant to think that over saturation of its product cannot occur.  Too many games and too much frequency of games can happen.  I agree that this is not all Goodell's doing, and most of its simply based on what people are willing to pay, but I don't believe its sustainable.

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Players on every team say Thursday games don't allow them to properly rest and play at their best. I would rather see better games on Sundays and MNF.

Easy solution: only play thursday night games with teams coming off byes. It can be worked out

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I wouldn't say they are amazing.  Some games this year are "exciting" to a lot of people.  What we have these days is parity in the extreme.  An objective view of most of these close games is that the games are close simply because the teams playing against each other are bad to mediocre.  Take, for instance, the end of the Ravens and Vikings games.  Sure, exciting to some people, but in reality, its just bad football.  In my opinion, the product on the field has taken a hit and is showing its ugly head this year.  No offense to Peyton Manning, but that many touchdowns in a single season is nuts.  Also, the NFL should not be so arrogant to think that over saturation of its product cannot occur.  Too many games and too much frequency of games can happen.
 I agree that this is not all Goodell's doing, and most of its simply based on what people are willing to pay, but I don't believe its sustainable.

 

I agree with this, and my possibly misplaced frustration with Goodell probably stems from my view of the threat of oversaturation.

 

The reason why I think the NFL is the premier professional sports league in the country is because of its limited time frame. There are only 16 games for your favorite team, so if you miss one it's a lot harder to replace. Whereas with a 162 game baseball season and an 82 game NBA season along with it's 497 game Playoff season, so what if you miss a game? There will be two more later in the week!

 

For the longest time, the NFL restricted it's supply and that drove up demand. They need to be wary of outpacing that demand, especially at the risk of rolling out an inferior product.

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I'm trying to make myself more informed and less opinionated.

Stop saying whatever stupid thing you're talking about and pay attention to all the interesting things I have to say!