The NFL Commissioner: Roger Goodell

Kroft: Aren't you supposed to touch his shoe or something?

Goodell: Oh, I'd love to. I'd love to.

Goodell: He was a great one.

Kroft: He's your hero?

Goodell: Yeah, he was special. What a player.

He used to go to the Colt games with his father, the late congressman and U.S. Senator Charles Goodell. He was one of the first Republicans to speak out against the Vietnam War in a speech before Congress, and a copy of it hangs on the wall of the commissioner's office. It earned his dad a place on Richard Nixon's enemies list and cost him the next election.

Goodell: That demonstrated to me courage, not be afraid of taking a principled stand regardless of the consequences. My father taught that to us by example. And that has stayed with me since I was a child.

Goodell used to campaign with his father, so he's not so shy about mingling with the fans and listening to their opinions about the game.

Kroft: This is a completely different experience than sitting at home and watching it on TV.

Goodell: Yes, it is. But that's part of our biggest challenge going forward is how do we get people to come to our stadiums and experience stadiums. 'Cause the experience is so great at home.

He is a regular visitor to tailgating parties around the league and will occasionally sneak into the cheap seats to see what the fans' experience is like from there. A quarter of the league's revenues - about $2.5 billion, still come from ticket sales with another $2.5 billion coming from licensing fees on everything from footballs and league apparel to shot glasses and ice scrapers.

Bud Light is reportedly spending a billion dollars over six years to be the official beer of the NFL, but the real key to the league's success is its unorthodox business model. Under league rules the teams are required to share most of their revenue with each other. Which is always a sticking point with some of the most successful franchises and the more politically conservative owners.

Kroft: I mean that's socialism, isn't it?

Goodell: It is a form of socialism. And it's worked quite well for us. So we try to combine socialism and capitalism. How can we socialize by sharing our revenue in a way that will allow every team the ability to compete?

It's not just socialism. The NFL is essentially a cartel, albeit a legal one, thanks to a limited exemption from anti-trust laws granted by Congress more than 50 years ago.

Kroft: You've got 32 competing teams, but they share 80 percent of the revenues. You operate a draft for new players. There are salary caps. You depend on public tax money to help fund your stadiums.

Goodell: Well, we look at it as trying to create the most competitive league we can. One of the things we want every fan to feel in the country is hope when the season starts that their team can end up holding that Super Bowl trophy. And one of the stats we're most proud of in the last nine years we've had at least one team go from last to first.

The result is a financially engineered equality that allows a small town team in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to compete with a metropolis like New York. It produces lots of close games and those unscripted dramas that are essential to the NFL's appeal. Every Monday morning, in the league's New York Command Center, Commissioner Goodell and top officials conduct the ultimate Monday morning quarterback session, dissecting and discussing the weekend's most controversial plays.

[Carl Johnson: So what we're gonna have here is an inadvertent whistle...]

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[Government_Cheese]

It is not socialism because if you don't perform you don't get paid. There are no free loaders in the NFL.

[Bill3lder]

Start over Commish. Socialism is crap imposed on a population by power grabing busybodies who think they know what everyone else should do. What the NFL is doing with all that cash in sharing it is properly called a Co-op, as in cooperative, and not compelled by a government. No government makes you do it; you are all doing that voluntarily. That is a co-op.

[Question32]

In the NFL segment it states that it's "Wildly profitable. It's a $10 billion-a-year business, with soaring revenues and television ratings through the roof." Why do taxpayers have to pay for new NFL stadiums to be built? How many of these taxpayers can't afford to go to a game? How many tax payers have no interest in the NFL what-so-ever? Why does taxpayer payer money go to making millions and billions for a select few? Or as stated above by by mconn12 January 29, 2012 8:17 PM EST, "If it (NFL) practices socialism, why then can only those more affluent afford to purchase a ticket for their game?"

[JedLake]

Question: as NFL players get bigger, faster & stronger, when will refs finally begin to wear helmets to protest themselves from accidental collisions (as NHL refs do)?

Answer: after/when one of them gets run over and has a severe injury/concussion.

[JohnHTaylor]

The commissioner's father was not actually on the Nixon White House enemies list. Details here:

http://episconixonian.blogspot.com/2012/01/not-enemy-they-just-wanted-to-beat-him.html

A smaller detail: The text above gets the correspondent's name wrong:

The following script is from "The Commissioner" which aired on Jan. 29, 2012. Scott Pelley is the correspondent. Draggan Mihailovich and Frank Devine, producers.

[ptownmike]

This is some of the worst reporting I have ever seen on 60 minutes. Shame on Steve Kroft for trying to make NFL Commissioner Roger Goodsell look like a saint. Now, Steve, I've seen you tough on alot of people, but here was your chance to investigate the real Roger Goodsell, and you failed terribly. Here is a man who is no more than a puppet for the owners and his policies are dictated by the Owners and not by Roger Goodsell. The decisions by Roger Goodsell's office is consistent with those in Washington D.C. The way that Goodsell and the NFL handle the Spygate incident of 2007 is one example. No mention of this in your story, Mr. Kroft. Pats coach Bill Belichick admitted to the video taping incident and was fined $500,000 and took a Draft Pick away from the Pats. Roger Goodsell was quoted as saying he thought taking a Draft pick away would hurt the Pats worst than the Coach being suspended or kicked out of the leaguefor cheating. Where is the integrity in that statement? Today, because Roger Goodsell fail to do his job as the Commissioner in this incident and it makes me and other NFL fans wonder how much INAPPROPRIATE stuff Bill Belichick and the Patriots are still getting away with. And yes, it's no doubt the Pats owner Robert Kraft pulled the NFL Commisioner strings when it came down to the penalties invoked in Spygate. After, watching this story, it appears Mr. Goodsell and the NFL pulled 60 Minutes strings to try to make the Commissioner look like a Saint but in reality he is more of a Patsy. 60 Minutes, C'MON MAN

[mconn12]

I enjoyed the report, but was surprised to hear about the socialism aspect of the NFL organization. If it practices socialism, why then can only those more affluent afford to purchase a ticket for their game. The same ticket and fan base that supports the athletes (rightfully so to gladiator status)is responsible for their multi-million salary. Why not give the common person an opportunity to see the game, especially since they are the fan base that pays the athelete's commercial salary on an ongoing basis?

[cowboydogbreath]

A nice piece of positive journalism that completely missed the boat. The NFL has a great product, but it's advantage over other sports is largely due to one factor: America's addiction to gambling on Fantasy Football. Ask an addict to take a year off and see how many games he actually watches.

GAMBLING AND FOOTBALL - - PERFECT TOGETHER.

NOW THERE'S AN INTERESTING TOPIC FOR A REAL 60 MINUTES SEGMENT.

[mconn12]

I enjoyed the report, but was surprised to hear about the socialism aspect of the NFL organization. If it practices socialism, why then can only those more affluent afford to purchase a ticket for their game. The same ticket and fan base that supports the athletes (rightfully so to gladiator status)is responsible for their multi-million salary. Why not give the common person an opportunity to see the game, especially since they are the fan base that pays the athelete's commercial salary on an ongoing basis?

[Citizens_Win]

No one asks, and neither did 60 minutes, is why steroids are not tested for in the NFL.

So I Will.

'Why are steroids not tested for in the NFL.?'
___________________________________________

[Government_Cheese]

They are, but HGH is not.