The NFL’s Compensation Committee will hold a conference call Monday to further discuss the extension of Roger Goodell’s contract. This conference call comes shortly after Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he wasn’t happy with the proposals currently on the table.
That’s not very surprising, since Goodell’s alleged counterproposal to the NFL is extremely audacious:
The committee will address Goodell’s salary and compensation package. The last written counterproposal from Goodell, which was around the first of August, was seeking about $49.5 million per year, as well as the lifetime use of a private jet and lifetime health insurance for his family, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
Joe Lockhart, the executive vice president of communications, denies ESPN’s reporting on Goodell’s supposed counterproposal, but the source who first told the network about it stands by his story. At this moment, Goodell makes $30 million a year. $49.5 million would be an increase of nearly 50 percent.
NFL owners take the report of the $49.5 million wage plus a lifetime use of a private jet very seriously. One owner told ESPN that there are “several owners in this league who don’t make $40 million a year.” He added that the number “just seems too much” and is “offensive. It’s unseemly.”
That would always be problematic but especially so now. As one owner explained to ESPN:
The problem is, no one is talking about games anymore. It’s about concussions, Jones vs. Goodell, [Ezekiel Elliott’s suspension], the anthem. No one is talking about football. It’s just killing the game.
The question is now whether Goodell will put his foot down or whether he’ll take the owners’ criticism seriously. Several sources close to the commissioner tell ESPN that he doesn’t have any intentions of backing down. If they want him to accept a pay cut, they say, they’ll be sorely disappointed. He’s not going to do that — and he’s not going anywhere either.
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