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Roger Goodell is the commissioner of the National Football League.
He is employed as the public face of the league by the 32 owners of each NFL franchise.
Goodell is paid quite handsomely to do his job (whatever it is he is supposed to do). According to sources, the Commissioner’s new employment agreement with the 32 NFL franchisees calls for him to earn $200 million over five seasons.
That’s right. The NFL Commissioner earns an average of $40 million every single year.
Fans of the New Orleans Saints are asking, begging, and, in some cases, legally demanding that the league’s “Big Guy” step-up to the microphone and intervene to right the wrong of last Sunday afternoon’s game-changing missed call by his league’s referees.
For those who missed it, there was an obvious (albeit missed) pass interference penalty and illegal head-to-head contact which were perpetrated by a Los Angeles Rams defender (who later, in the locker room, freely admitted that he interfered on the play and was surprised he wasn’t penalized) that occurred with less than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship game in New Orleans.
As a result, the Saints lost an opportunity to have the ball first-and-goal and a chance to set-up a short (extra-point length) field goal in the waning seconds to beat Los Angeles by a theoretical final score of 23-20 and move into the Super Bowl to play New England.
Keep dreaming, Saints fans.
The silence from the “Big Guy” of the NFL has been deafening. Nothing has been said in nearly three days to help explain the situation or placate the New Orleans Saints and their deeply loyal fans.
Tick, tick, tick.
Crickets.
But, if you were the NFL’s Commissioner, can you do anything (yes, he could) and should you say or do anything?
First, let’s address the emotional side of the story. If Roger Goodell emerged from his hiding spot today to say, “I’m sorry, Saints fans” or “We’re going to address the rules on pass interference in the offseason”, anything he says which didn’t include chance to replay the final two minutes of Sunday’s game would not satisfy any Saints fan (me, included).
Under an obscure rule, the NFL Commissioner can, indeed, order a game to be replayed. Though most likely formulated to allow games which have been altered by unusual factors (let’s say the lights went out or, in the Bay area, an earthquake happened), a missed call by the games’ referees doesn’t seem to measure up to such a standard.
Remember, Roger Goodell has 32 bosses he must answer to. Though the Gayle Benson family in New Orleans, the WhoDat Nation, Louisiana’s Governor, and most fair-minded NFL fans would think this to be a great idea, Roger Goodell’s generous salary is paid to protect and advance the current and future value of his employers’ 32 franchises.
Most likely, the Los Angeles Rams would end up losing the “replay” ending of this game. The Rams’ fans on the West Coast (assuming there may be a few out there) would feel robbed as well by the dramatic “do-over”.
For all the positive public relations which would be done to right this wrong and send the Saints to the Super Bowl, the NFL would be opening their own self-inflicted Pandora’s Box of new problems by replaying the end of this game.
Saints fans have already launched a nationwide public relations attack on the league. Some fans have turned to filing lawsuits for a variety of reasons.
Super Bowl boycotts in New Orleans and in other Saints strongholds around the Gulf South are being planned and will likely gain more traction over the coming week.
Think about this, though. Strictly from a financial standpoint, the NFL loses “less” by absorbing the collective anger from a smaller market franchise like New Orleans (#51 television size) than if a different boycott and collective anger was coming from America’s #2 TV market in Los Angeles.
Saints fans may, eventually, get over their justifiable anger. Mardi Gras is coming in the Big Easy to help ease the pain.
Los Angeles, though, already had trouble getting enough Rams fans to buy tickets and/or to pay attention to the NFL. The league’s 32 franchise owners want to cash-in on the lucrative L.A. market more than they need New Orleans.
Yes, fellow WhoDats, it is “true-dat” when you consider the larger picture of the wealthy band of merry men and women who steer this sports oligopoly in professional football.
Regardless, the league’s Commissioner, Roger Goodell, knows that anything he says about this situation can and will likely end-up in a court of law in either Louisiana or California.
Roger is quite aware of who butters his bread, too. Though the Saints ownership (Gayle Benson and family) has rightfully stood-up for the team and its passionate fans, the family will still quietly reap the financial benefits as a result of owning one of these 32 cash cows known as an NFL franchise.
As the league will certainly discuss (but not necessarily act on) proposed rule changes to prevent a future travesty like the one which happened on Sunday in New Orleans, Benson may be able to claim a moral victory by vigorously defending her team and fan base.
Meanwhile, her 31 colleagues will wink and nod approvingly at Benson’s valiant efforts. It’s the least she can do to help preserve the value of the franchise in New Orleans.
Who knows? The benevolent NFL owners may even throw a bone to New Orleans (like an extra chance to be host city for a future Super Bowl) to help buy-off the city and region’s collective current level of anger.
For Commissioner Roger Goodell and the sports cabal of wealthy owners of the good ship NFL, silence is golden.
Legally and financially…Crickets.
Did you really expect anything else from the NFL?