NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Speaks Ahead of the Super Bowl Transcript

… ultimately, you want to try to take that hit out of the game. You’re always going to have contacts that are not intended and that’s why you need the protection. But ultimately, you want the rules to make sure that you’re avoiding the techniques that can lead to those types of injuries.

Mark Fascet.

Roger, straight ahead. What are your expectations at this point on the potential sale of the commanders? And also, when do you anticipate that Mary Jo White will complete her investigation and deliver a report to you?

I’ll take those in reverse orders. Mary Jo White, as I’ve said many times you, that, there’s no timeline given to Mary Jo White. She is authorized to work independently. There is no timeline for her to come to any conclusions when she does that. She will let me know and we will let the public know at that point in time.

(00:48)
As far as the process, the commanders are under a process. That’s their process. Ultimately, if they reach a conclusion and have someone that’ll be joining the ownership group or buying the team entirely, that’s something that the ownership will look at.

Jon Jones.

Hey, Roger, Jonathan Jones, CBS here. A lot’s made, and I know Kaylee just brought it up about this being the first Super Bowl with two black starting quarterbacks. What does it say to you that it took 57 years for this sort of celebration to finally be happening?

There are probably a variety of reasons. Probably none of them good because the reality is there’s such great talent at that position, black and white. And I think I was talking to Doug Williams about this just last week. The pride that he has in seeing the advancement.

(01:52)
I think there are a lot of reasons. There are our quarterbacks in general, obviously. That’s the field general. I think we have 11 blacks starting quarterbacks today. They’re some of the best leaders I’ve ever seen. They’re extraordinary. People talk about their talent and their ability to run, but they are incredible leaders. They understand the offense. They run complex offenses, probably more complex than we’ve ever run in the past.

(02:21)
And they really add such an element to the game. And I think our game has changed because of their talents. And I think that game has changed on the college level also to develop their talents earlier. And that’s true for all quarterbacks. But I just think it’s another example of where diversity makes you better.

(02:40)
Think about this league without those 11 great young quarterbacks. Think about the two in the Super Bowl. They make the league better. And that’s what we’re so proud of.

Neil Reynolds, NFL UK. Far right.

Hi, Neil.

Roger, how are you?

I’m good.

It’s clear the NFL’s international efforts are going to focus heavily on the UK and Germany again in 2023 with the games coming over to Europe. How far do you think that growth can go, given the success of those two markets? And how bold can the league be?

Well, Neil, I think you were with me when I talked about the division back when we were in London. And the context of that, frankly was the incredible support that we’re getting for our game. Every time we play a game, whether it’s in the UK or Germany, it’s just extraordinary to see the reaction of the fans.

(03:39)
When we went to Germany, which was after I saw you in London, I don’t think any of us would’ve anticipated the kind of reaction we got there for our first game there. And having been somebody who was involved with American football in Germany through the NFL since 1989, to me, it was really rewarding to see how our fan base has expanded.

(04:03)
And we want to make NFL football a global sport. And I think we’ll continue on this path. We broke every record around our international games this year, whether it was viewership or attendance. The excitement is just extraordinary.

(04:20)
And so, what our biggest challenge is, Neil, is how do we bottle that? How do we take that and how do we make NFL football a global sport? And we’re well on our way, and I think we’re going to put a lot of focus on that.

Max for Germany.

Hey, Mr. Goodell. My name is Max. I’m with the German news, YDPA. Staying on that topic, the Munich game was a huge success and now there’s two games in Germany. And this upcoming season, is that in addition to the four that were agreed on last year already? That’s a additional fifth game now. And also, would you also be willing to commit to a longer stay in Munich beyond that four games that were initially committed to last year?

Listen, I think from our experience that we had last year, we’re confident we’re going to see that experience again with at least one game in Frankfurt. We’re confident that we’re going to continue to be there well beyond any agreement we stated even a year ago.

(05:13)
I think you’ll see more games and less than what we committed to because it’s moving the ball for us. It’s actually showing the incredible support we have over there. And so, our teams loved it. Our league loved it, our fans loved it on a global basis. You’ll see more football in Germany.

Sam Farm.

Hi, Roger. Last May, Amazon got what looked to be a strong schedule. But in the fall, viewership numbers didn’t necessarily reflect that. What does the league plan to do to help Amazon continue to grow that audience? How does the NFL strike a balance between giving Amazon great games to help it grow and not giving those games to other media partners who might have an audience twice as big or larger?

Kaylee, did you give him that question?

I did not. I did not.

Hey, Sam, let me step back for a second here. Because when we went to Amazon, we were going to a different platform intentionally. We understood that this was, in our view, a growing platform that was reaching fans that weren’t watching football on traditional networks. And when we made that move, it was entirely to focus on being on that growing platform and reaching that younger demographic that really traditionally isn’t watching on broadcast television. And it worked. It was exactly what we anticipated. There is absolutely zero reluctance or any negativity. We are overwhelmed. And Amazon is also with the results of it. I think we reduced our average age of our audience almost 10 years. And that’s exactly what we are looking for.

(07:03)
And I think as you’ll see Amazon broadcast, starting next year and the year after, their production quality was extraordinary. Their talent was extraordinary too. But in addition to that, I think you’re going to see people be able to interact with the game differently than you can on broadcast television. More two-way, more technology that’s going to give you a different experience. And you’ll watch football differently than you will in the past. And I think that’s exciting about new partners.

(07:32)
And that’s when we will look forward to our Sunday Ticket package of YouTube. They will change the experience for people who have the Sunday Ticket package. They will innovate, they’ll create new ways to engage with their fans. They’ll be younger. It’ll be more accessible for our fans on a global basis. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish.

(07:51)
And I think both of those partnerships are the future for us. But we also believe very much in our business partners and our network models today. They are the biggest platform still, the most people watch them on our platforms. And we ended up being 47 of the top 50 shows. I think the other two were both football events. And then the third one was still the Macy Day Thanksgiving.

(08:16)
I think what our job is to make sure we make football as available as possible on the widest platforms and the best possible platforms, where everyone can reach our fans. And Amazon’s a great example of that, and YouTube coming along.

Well, and you’re now entering into this 10 year broadcast rights deal, with your partners coming up starting in 2023. How else can you continue to grow that presence on streaming? I know there was just the DAZN deal for international rights. You mentioned Google, YouTube. What other opportunities can you within the confines that you’re set in now?

Well, in some cases, it’s with our broadcast partners. Peacock is a big initiative. We look at the digital platforms that our partners currently have and how can we continue to help build that. ESPN+, I believe in the first year here, will have an exclusive game this year. That will be an extraordinary opportunity to grow that platform and to grow subscribers so more fans can experience NFL football on ESPN+.

(09:20)
But that’s how we look to support the digital platforms as well as the traditional linear platforms, which have been great to us and will continue to be great to us. But for us to reach fans that aren’t on those platforms, we need to go into these other territories.

(09:36)
And Sam, you did also touch on scheduling, which I should. This is the first year of our new deals that we’ll have flexible scheduling on Monday night. We’ll have flexible scheduling on Sundays and Mondays. It wouldn’t at all surprise me at some point that we have it on Thursdays at some stage. But not today. But it will certainly be something that’ll be in our horizon.

Mike Jones, The Athletic.

Roger, as you talked about the benefits that the accelerator produced on the general manager front with Ran, why do you think it’s so different when it comes to coordinators and head coaches, and what are some of the ideas that you all are working on to try to advance and improve there?

Well, one is when we did this, it was in May and we did the second accelerator in December. Obviously, it was difficult to get our coaches to participate in December. We didn’t even ask because we know that their focus is on the season. That was actually the accelerator where Ran met the Tennessee Titans and they were focused on their changes. So, that was a sense of timing.

(10:42)
I think when we have this off season, hopefully we can schedule better to make sure that the coaches have the opportunity to participate in that. I also think there was probably some reluctance that is this really going to be beneficial? I think now when coaches and others see that it has produced results already, I think they’re going to be anxious to participate, and I think that’ll be good for our clubs who love the experience. In implementing any program, you never know what the reaction is. I was overwhelmed with the reaction from our clubs. They embraced it. They thought it was terrific. The conversations were great. I participated in many of them. It’s a program that has a great deal of potential, and I think it’ll only grow in its effect, and most importantly, its impact.

Ben Volin.

Hey, Roger, Ben Volin from the Boston Globe. I’m tempted to ask you another Deflategate question since we’re at the place where it all began eight years ago. But on a more serious note, because concussions were up, I believe, 18% in the regular season this year, does the NFL need to reconsider whether a 17 game schedule is appropriate and certainly do you need to reconsider any thoughts of moving to 18 games in the future?

Well, Ben, a couple of specific points that I would make. First off, injuries were down 6% this year, total injuries, and we think that is an incredible positive reinforcement of some of the changes we’re making, both to the pre-season, the off-season training, but most importantly, training camp period where we’re escalating the level of intensity over a number of weeks, but also the rules that we put in during the season.

(12:29)
Also, I would say on week 18, the injury rate is absolutely no different than any other week. So, I’m not sure I accept that your premise that we need to reevaluate that. We always look at the injury rates. As you know, you guys asked, for many years, questions about Thursday night football. That injury rate continues to be no different than a game on Sunday. So, I think it’s hard to draw conclusions from one year.

(12:56)
As I mentioned to the question earlier, I think there’s some specific reasons to why the concussion rate is up this year. Number one, the definition of concussions changed during the season. We had more evaluations. That’s going to lead to more recorded concussions. We don’t want concussions to occur. We want to prevent them and we want to treat them, but we’re not afraid of having them be diagnosed. That’s something that’s really important for us and why we encourage players and coaches and everyone else to come forward when they have symptoms so we can deal with those medically and make sure that they’re handled professionally.

Jim Trotter, NFL Media.

Hey, Roger. Jim Trotter, NFL Media. You and other league officials have said that the League’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion extend beyond the sidelines and beyond the front offices and is applied to all aspects of the company. I’ve worked in NFL Media for five years. During those five years, we have never had a Black person in senior management in our newsroom. That’s a problem because we cover a league who, according to League data, the player population is 60 to 70% black, which means that there is no one who looks like these players at the table when decisions are being made about how they’re covered.

(14:15)
More concerning is that for a year plus now, we have never had a full-time Black employee on the news desk, which again is a problem because we cover a league whose player population is 60 to 70% Black according to League data. I asked you about these things last year and what you told me is that the league had fallen short and you were going to review all of your policies and practices to try and improve this, and yet a year later, nothing has changed. James Baldwin once said that, “I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do.” And so I would ask you as an employee, when are we, in the newsroom, going to have a Black person in senior management, and when will we have a full-time Black employee on the news desk?

Well, Jim, I am not in charge of the newsroom. So, can I answer your question? As you point out, it’s the same question you asked last year. We did go back and we have reviewed everything we’ve been doing across the league and we are looking at everything from vendors that we’re working with to partners that we’re working with to ownership, where we’ve seen significant changes in diversity just this year I do not know specifically about the media business. We’ll check in again with our people, but I am comfortable that we made significantly progress across the league. I can’t answer the specific questions. Some of the data you may have raised there may be accurate, maybe not. Last year, I was told some of it wasn’t. We’ll get to you on that. We want to make progress across the board and that includes in the media room. And so, those are things that we’ll continue to look at and hopefully make real progress to. I can’t answer because I do not know specifically what those numbers are today.

Nick Acres, Las Vegas.

Hey Roger. We just had the Pro Bowl games in Las Vegas. I wanted to get your thoughts about how that transpired and if the future location has been picked for that. And then next year at this time, we’ll be in Las Vegas for the Super Bowl. Based off the Pro Bowl and the Draft already held there, how big can the Las Vegas Super Bowl be?

I guess on the last point, and I’ll make sure I come back to the Pro Bowl, I think I’d be making a mistake underestimating anything that happens in Vegas and how big it can be. The Draft was extraordinary for us. The Pro Bowl last week was incredibly well done. We had 52,000 people there, paying customers that really enjoyed the experience. They wrapped their arms around this event. I think the players loved being there and their families. I think it was a great location for us. The Raiders’ facility was extraordinary. The stadium is always the best of the best.

(17:02)
So to me, the Pro Bowl was a pivotal moment for us because we had to make a determination that the Pro Bowl in its current state last year was not something that represented the NFL well, and you know I’ve talked about that many times. We made the pivot to say, “We’re not going to play this game in the same context.” In fact, I think it was Russell Wilson who called me the Tuesday afterwards and said, “Let’s play a flag game.” I give our team, Peter O’Reilly and so many others in our organization, incredible kudos for reevaluating everything we did there and coming up with a concept that our players loved, that they were part of making those changes.

(17:47)
When I was there on Thursday, the players, they were wonderful. They loved it. They were embracing it. They thought this was a great forum. I loved watching it because you got to see the players’ personality. You got to see their faces. You got to see them compete. They love the flag game. So I think we have a lot to build on there, and I don’t see us going back in any way. I think this is the future for us. Flag is such an important initiative for us with boys, girls, men and women. There’s just an opportunity here for us to grow our game globally with flag football. And so, we’ve seen a lot of the people that are participating in that and how they’re embracing that and seeing NFL players do that, I think is just going to help launch us even faster.

Julia.

Hey, it’s the Play 60 Super Kid. How does it feel being booed at the NFL Draft?

Well, Julia, thanks for your question. I actually love it personally because it’s a way for fans to interact. It’s a way for them to be part of it. I always tell this story. There was a former player, I’ll leave his name out for right now, but played for the Dallas Cowboys. He saw me getting booed and he said, “You think they’re going to boo me?” We were in Philadelphia at the time. Philadelphia fans are pretty good at booing, let me just tell you. That was one of the highlights that I remember. I said, “They’re going to boo you so hard, you’re not even going to believe it. You’re almost going to get pushed back. So you ought to come back with something else. You ought to come back with some other offensive play.”

(19:32)
So he came out and all he did is talk about the great Dallas Cowboys and the Super Bowl champions, and the Philadelphia fans went at him like you can’t believe. And he said, “That was the most I’ve ever been booed in my life.” But he turned it around and he made it a positive and it was extraordinary. So, I think it was a great moment for us to have our fans engage and have our former players engage and even active players engage. And so, that’s what makes the Draft special.

[inaudible 00:20:00].

Yeah.

Hello Commissioner, over this side, to your left. As we all know, there won’t be a international game played in Mexico this year. So many fans are wondering what plans are there in place for the NFL for Mexico in 2024 and beyond?

Well, for those who may not know, the reason we’re not going to be in Mexico is not because of the lack of support or our desire to be there, it’s because the stadium’s going to be renovated for the World Cup. So when that stadium is completed and we can come back, we’re coming back. Mexico is one of the places we want to continue to play. The fans there are just amazing, and so we’ll be back.

We have Jose, Arizona Republic. Microphone.

[Inaudible 00:20:58].

Over here. Hey, Commissioner. Thank you.

Okay.

Just a question about just players with big personalities and the league embracing that kind of thing. Guys like Travis Kelce and some of the other big personalities that are out there, and the importance of just having that and guys like that having the freedom to express themselves.

Well, I think it’s great. Donna’s responsible for that on two counts. The personality of these guys and how they express it makes it special, I think. It makes it something for our fans to connect with. And it’s another reason why I thought the Pro Bowl was a great opportunity, so our fans could actually get to know the personalities of our individual players, who they are.

(21:50)
And I’ve said this many times, as a group, our players are the most extraordinary young men I’ve ever met. Not just because of their talents on the field, but what they do in their communities. They’re active, their families are active, they’re trying to make their communities better. They use their platforms for good. They use their platforms to bring people together. And to me, I’m incredibly proud of what they are. So the more people see who these men are, the better for us as the NFL, because I think they’re why people root for the game ultimately, and I think they make a huge difference.

Roger, over here. Ken Belson, New York Times. The day after Damar Hamlin was revived on the field, Troy Vincent was asked about benefits for retired players, and he said that Damar would be taken care of. But hundreds if not thousands of retired players are denied benefits under the collectively bargained plan. I just wonder how you justify that.

Well, Ken, I first have to start back again. So our player compensation this year is $10 billion. That’s in salary bonuses, but also in benefits. I think 2.5 billion of that is in benefits. It’s a program that we collectively bargain with our union. We have improved that in almost every CBA since I think the early 90s. I think the benefits are extraordinary for our players. But as you know, it’s a defined benefit plan also. A defined benefit plan operates under governmental law, and we have to obviously have a system to be able to identify who qualifies for those benefits and who doesn’t qualify for those benefits. And that’s done with union and management.

(23:54)
The facts are that’s done independently with doctors who make a determination of whether the benefit, an individual qualifies under that program. So you don’t want people to benefit from it that don’t qualify for it because it takes away from people who do qualify for it. So you’re always going to have people who may think they qualify for it. Doctors disagree, the joint board disagrees. That’s the way the system works. But I would tell you the benefits in the NFL are off the charts.

Charles Robinson.

Roger, Charles Robinson from Yahoo Sports. There was a consequential third down that was replayed in the AFC championship game, and it’s been reported that that was due to intervention from the league office. That there have been various points during the course of the season where critical voices have raised issues with officiating. Mike Vrabel, during what was essentially a league-wide email in October. Tony Dungy. Most recently, Aaron Rodgers has questioned a talent drain of officials heading to network TV. Are these voices resonating with you, and do you see this as something that needs to be addressed going into this off-season, how the league is handling the talent and process-

When you say talent, the talent, what do you mean?

There have been multiple officials that have left the league to go to network television jobs. This was something that was most recently raised by Aaron Rodgers. Individuals with experience. He has questioned, is the NFL paying officials enough to stay in the league? And also, there have been questions raised about just the general training and overall level of officiating in the league.

Well, I would disagree with several of the points you’re making in there. So yes, we listen to all the voices. Let’s just start with that point. But we’d like to go to the facts, ultimately. So just to take your point, are we losing people from the field to the booth? There are some that never even officiated on the NFL field, and so we didn’t lose anyone. May have lost them from our office, but we didn’t lose them from officiating on the field. Others are taking on that responsibility at the end of their career. So I do not think that’s a factor at all. Zero.

(26:07)
I think for us, when you look at officiating, I don’t think it’s ever been better in the league. There are over 42,000 plays in a season. Multiple infractions could occur on any play. Take that out or extrapolate that. That’s hundreds if not millions of potential fouls. And our officials do an extraordinary job of getting those. Are there mistakes in the context of that? Yes, they are not perfect and officiating never will. But we’ve also had obviously replay in other aspects that help us address those issues to make sure they’re not something that we can’t correct on the field.

(26:47)
Communications between our office, that is not the case in the championship game. That was stopped appropriately because the clock was running by an official on the field. That happens frequently in our game. That’s not an unusual thing to have that happen.

(27:03)
So again, we want to go back and look at the facts. We may not agree with every TV announcer or every officiating expert, but we think our officials are doing a great job. But we’re always going to look to our competition committee and everything else we have, how we improve our officiating. But it will never be perfect.

(27:24)
In addition, I think we all have to realize through the quality of what we see on our broadcast, you’ve never been able to see the kinds of things that you can see today. And you see it in super slow-mo. You see it where you can actually stop it. Sometimes that distorts a call potentially, but the reality is our officials are held to a incredibly high standard and I think they meet it. Will we try to get better? You betcha.

John Ourand, one right?

Hi. Over here. John Ourand, Sports Business Journal. When the league first started negotiating the Sunday ticket package, it also had talks with media companies and others about buying an equity stake in NFL media, NFL network, nfl.com and whatnot. When you did the deal with YouTube for Sunday ticket, the NFL media was not a part of that. Where does that stand now? Is that still on the market? Has that been taken off the market?

Well, I wouldn’t say, John, that it was ever on the market. I would take a different position on that. What we said a year ago and what we’ve done is explore every alternative and every relationship that could advance our rights on Sunday ticket to Sunday ticket and that partnership. But also, could our other aspects of our O&O media assets be involved? Could that also help elevate, in some fashion, the relationship?

(28:52)
We explored every one of those. We had some huge opportunities that we were excited by, but at the end of the day, we felt YouTube was the right opportunity for us. Again, it was focused on the right demographics. We think they’re going to bring extraordinary innovation. We were really pleased at how they saw this in the context of their overall strategy to build not only their channel’s business, but also YouTube.

(29:17)
For us, we think it’s the absolute right partner. Will we continue to talk to people about our media assets? Absolutely. We will look at every opportunity to try to expand our media assets, how to make them stronger, and how to reach more fans with them.

Okay. For our last, Herbie from KC Star, then we’ll take one more after that.

Good afternoon, Mr. Goodell. Herbie Teope with the Kansas City Star. You mentioned fan exposure, and my question is a two-part question here. Since the draft started rotating, how pleased are you with the extra exposure and how has it boosted it? And then two, would the draft come into Kansas City? What are you expecting from the folks in KC?

Great barbecue. The answer to your last question, I can’t wait. One of my favorite things is coming to a Kansas City game and opening the windows. You’re coming in and just smelling that barbecue. It’s the best. But I always say that moving the draft around was one of our more significant moves because again, it brought the game closer to our fans. It’s another way for them to interact with one of our events. And Kansas City is going to be a great host, but the key for them is to do it Kansas City style.

(30:37)
I think every city that has the opportunity to host this has to look at it as how can they make this reflect on their community in a positive way to millions of peoples all over the nations as well as the globe, and how do they use this platform to advance their communities and their passion and their communities? And Kansas City’s got incredible passionate fans and a great community, so I have no doubt and I’ve heard a lot of the plans, but we’ll obviously focus on that in the next couple of months, that they’re going to do an extraordinary job and the fans that we coming into town will get a little better understanding of that passion in Kansas City. And I think that’s great for our event, but it’s also great for football.

Okay, last question. We’ll go here in the middle. Evan, [inaudible 00:31:31].

Hey Roger, you’ve talked in the past about trying to reach 25 billion in revenue by 2027. I’m curious how confident you are in that number right now. And I’ve asked you this before, but it’s the first time I’m asking after all of the big media deals are done, when you look at the next four years, what are the areas that you see the biggest revenue growth coming for the league?

Well, you asked a lot of questions in there. Listen, we look at our growth period, so our growth in revenue, we look at our growth in fans, our growth and passion of our fans, what we see through our media outlets as well as our events. When I look at the next several years, as was pointed out here, we’re just about to start our new media agreements. They don’t start until ’23, so that’s not old to us. There are a lot of changes that are going to come that I think are going to be incredibly beneficial to our partners, but more importantly, our fans in these new media agreements.

(32:36)
And revenue growth is a part of that story, but it’s not the driver. When we do our media agreements in any really partnership, we look at how’s that going to advance the growth of our game ultimately? And flag football’s a great example of that. That’s not being driven by a revenue target. It’s being driven by getting young boys and girls and men and women playing flag football and participating in football in a way they haven’t been able to do. And so it’s far beyond just revenue for us. I’m highly confident the best days of the NFL are ahead of it. We like our position today, but we’re not satisfied. We’re not comfortable. We’re going to seek that improvement. We’re going to look for that growth every which way we can.

Well, our thanks to Phoenix for hosting us all. Michael Bidwell, no doubt, great weather in Arizona. Much appreciated next year, Las Vegas. And then do you have any timeline you can give us for when an announcement could be made on cities in top consideration for Super Bowls after that?

Well, first, let me go back. I want to thank Mike. I don’t know if David’s here. Fitz, Jay, I got to tell you, this community has opened their arms. This is a wonderful community. It’s a diverse community. The indigenous communities here, we’re so proud to partner with them also. Mike, for your leadership with the Super Bowl Host Committee and this community of great leaders and so many people that have made this special. I know it’s only Wednesday, and I know I always say, “Wait till Tuesday and we’ll talk about it,” but you’ve done an extraordinary job and I think we’re going to have a great week.

(34:26)
As far as Super Bowls going forward later in 23, we’ll be doing at least one more Super Bowl, if not two.

We look forward to it.

They need more planning, more timing. So we need actually more years because they just get bigger and bigger. And so we need to have a little bit more of a runway to try to do some of the planning that we now do around Super Bowl.

Okay. Well, thank you very much, Kaylee, Commissioner. We’ll have commissioner for a quick photo.