WSJ Takes Goodell to the Woodshed

[Joker]

Goodell Fatigue Syndrome...GFS. I have it...anybody else?

 

[AQPE]

Goodell Nausea Syndrome is more like it for me. The preening arrogance makes me sick.

I’ll allow that he must have something going for him that apparently convinces enough of the owners to stick with him. The question for me is why so many of the Billionaire Boys (not including the league’s charity case in Wisconsin) think they can’t get equal or better performance from someone willing to take much less; as they do regularly in reference to their own players. That’s why I can’t totally rule out the “more here than meets the eye and it can’t possibly be a good thing” feeling.

 

[Wheelman]

Your assumption is the players will sacrefice article 46 for revenue sharing. I'm not sure about that

Here in lies the issue. Are the players willing to go on strike for an extended period? My hunch tells me the answer is no. The players will eventually cave again. That's what I've seen from the players. Realistically the players need to go on strike for the whole season I reckon, maybe even 2 seasons.

 

[Jackson 2]

Goodell Nausea Syndrome is more like it for me. The preening arrogance makes me sick.

I’ll allow that he must have something going for him that apparently convinces enough of the owners to stick with him. The question for me is why so many of the Billionaire Boys (not including the league’s charity case in Wisconsin) think they can’t get equal or better performance from someone willing to take much less; as they do regularly in reference to their own players. That’s why I can’t totally rule out the “more here than meets the eye and it can’t possibly be a good thing” feeling.

I believe coming out on top of Brady, Kraft and the Patriots in the DG case earned Goodell loads of positive cache with the other owners. There's a load of stuff that went on between Goodell and guys Iike Mara, Rooney and others that I think those guys are scared ****less may be revealed. Goodell has them over a barrel.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Here in lies the issue. Are the players willing to go on strike for an extended period? My hunch tells me the answer is no. The players will eventually cave again. That's what I've seen from the players. Realistically the players need to go on strike for the whole season I reckon, maybe even 2 seasons.

History would prove you correct but I dunna know...

I think this time might be a bit more of a battle.

 

[MagicMarker]

Goodell is one thing. He's a bully. He bullied the players to cut their share of the pie.

And, if you read the Van Natta/Wickersham article, other owners wanted him to bully Kraft. Now, the other owners want him to bully Jerry Jones.

He's incompetent, and a major f*** up, but the other owners don't seem to care. That's the part that's shocking to me because most of them are successful business people and would never hire such a person to run their companies.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

I believe coming out on top of Brady, Kraft and the Patriots in the DG case earned Goodell loads of positive cache with the other owners. There's a load of stuff that went on between Goodell and guys Iike Mara, Rooney and others that I think those guys are scared ****less may be revealed. Goodell has them over a barrel.

I am more & more convinced that Goodell does have something or several somethings that the 32 are concerned could be "leaked" were they to make the obvious decision to move on from the clown and appoint someone at least semi-competent as Commish. It's the only explanation for otherwise rational (some of them, Kraft, etc.) businessmen to be irrational and accept such ineptitude from their EMPLOYEE.
It's clear now that instead of increasing revenues dramatically by 2020 as he promised the owners 3 years ago, Goodell is instrumental in decreasing revenue, both actively and passively as the entertainment environment evolves. More than ever, the owners need a visionary businessman at the helm in these changing times. What they actually have is a thug who bullied the NFLPA and targeted franchises, those not in or liked by the cool kids club.

 

[yukon cornelius]

They want Goodell for 2020; Goody knows he's out the door after that, so he's making them pay.....

not really hard to figure out

 

[IllegalContact]

It’s a stupid plan. Let dummies continue protesting a flag that represents them.

That way, the other dummies can keep *****ing

 

[Soliel]

A lot of people that complain about that are either dumb or don’t understand why it bugs them. Like myself.. I don’t know why it bothers me but it does

 

[TB_Helmet]

I still hate Goodell, but my knee jerk angry reactions to seeing or reading about him were decreased significantly after seeing Brady on the podium last year holding the trophy as boos rained down on the Commissioner.

Brady lost the battle, but with that moment, he won the war. Goodell was marginalized in my eyes at that point. All the current news about him is just background noise to me.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Precisely the points I have raised to cricket sounds from folks defending Kraft's and the 32's majority support keeping Goodell.
WHY???
What are the business reasons?
What personal initiatives and actions has he taken to raise revenue?
What personal initiatives and actions has he taken to improve the brand?
Why would the 32 even for a moment consider the outrageous contract demands of a poor performer?
Something major is amiss.

First of all, there is not a hole deep enough into which Roger Goodell could be thrown to satisfy me. Let's get that out of the way.

But, I think the Owners look at this from the perspective of the value of their franchises and the cash they throw off for them. Forbes is the only source we have for horizontal data on NFL Franchise value. I've studied their methodology and have many issues with it, but it's really all we have.

The combined Value of "The 32" Franchises was reported as $80.7b in 2017. That's an increase of 77% since 2014. For comparison, the S&P 500 rose 24.3% between the beginning of 2014 and 2017.

But, NFL Franchises are not just "passive" investments; they also throw off an indeterminable amount of Cash for the owners. Operating Income was reported as $3.2b, but franchise management efficiency ranges from around 40% for the Patriots and Cowboys to as low as 8% and 11% for others. How much of that translates into Cash Flow is unknowable since the franchises have different levels of debt, local tax obligations and shields from Depreciation and Amortization; Debt in relation to franchise value ranges from 25--30% for teams that borrowed money to build their stadiums to 3% for the Dolts, who got the idiot citizens of Indiana to float a Revenue Bond to put up their stadium.

But, the bottom line is that it's fair to say that many of these Franchises are throwing off a lot of Cash for their owners.

Personally, I think that Goodell, as I said above, is being overpaid, as are the vast majority of US CEO's. My own gut is that a person running a business whose value grew 77% to $80b in value over three years and outperformed the S&P by 33 points should probably be making around $25 million a year, maybe with a performance bonus thrown in for the valuation increase. $40 million seems high.

But, as I suggested above, most Boards (in this case, "The 32") are dumb and lazy and most CEO's, despite the pious protestations of the WSJ, have very little to do with how their companies are performing, are focused on managing the Stock Price and, in the end, are just trying to rake in as much money as they can before they get booted out. Goodell is no different.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Love to read just how Goodell by his efforts & initiatives was actively responsible for the franchises' growth in cash flow.
A Harvard B School case study delineating just what he did to get that result for the 32.

Goodell has just as much direct influence on the franchises' growth as I do on the mutual funds I own that have blown through the roof. Maybe less, as I have done nothing personally to screw up the funds' performance.

 

[DaBruinz]

Goodell got the small market owners in line. Kraft conned the Union. The CBA passed with everyone but Jerruh behind it and Paragraph 46 remained in the CBA. Using the line that W made (in)famous after Katrina, the owners basically think, "You're doing a heck of a job Roger."

Do you know how many times the CBA was passed with Article 46 in it without it being an issue? Seven. EVERY DAMN TIME. So the only real self-righteous pronouncement is from you. Not one previous commissioner had abused Article 46 the way that Goodell has abused it.

And current CBA passed 31-0 with the Raiders abstaining. So the idea that Jerruh wasn't for it falls flat..

Owners OK new labor agreement, but players not ready to vote

 

[JoeSixPat]

Precisely the points I have raised to cricket sounds from folks defending Kraft's and the 32's majority support keeping Goodell.
WHY???
What are the business reasons?
What personal initiatives and actions has he taken to raise revenue?
What personal initiatives and actions has he taken to improve the brand?
Why would the 32 even for a moment consider the outrageous contract demands of a poor performer?
Something major is amiss.

'
I'm wondering if this is a rope a dope - settting up Goodell himself to be a bargaining chip in CBA negotiations... the owners know he's unpopular and might be able to "get" something for moving on to a new commissioner'

Thus the owners need to show enough split to put his neck in the noose but enough solidarity to make clear that if the players want him gone, they need to give something up in return

Just a theory - but Goodell's demands were SO over the top I felt it was more theater than reality