Tagliabue to step down as NFL Commish

[KingPK 0]

NEW YORK -- Paul Tagliabue is retiring as NFL commissioner in July after more than 16 years on the job.

 

The 65-year-old commissioner has led the league since 1989, when he succeeded Pete Rozelle, and had recently signed a two-year contract extension to complete the television and labor deals.

 

He finally got that done 12 days ago, finishing the most arduous labor negotiations since the league and union agreed on a free agency-salary cap deal in 1992.

 

"I believe that now is a positive time to make the transition to a new commissioner," Tagliabue said in a statement.

 

"We have a collective bargaining extension in place, long-term television contracts, and have undertaken many other strong elements in league and club operations," Tagliabue said. "I am honored to have been commissioner since late 1989 and to have been heavily involved with the league, its owners, clubs, coaches, players, fans and media since 1969."

 

 

ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported on March 9 that Tagliabue was expected to exercise a clause in his contract with league owners in which he becomes a "senior executive" consultant with a significant compensation package. Tagliabue and the NFL did not comment at the time.

 

Tagliabue will be available to serve in a senior executive/advisory role through May 31, 2008 once a new commissioner is selected.

 

Roger Goodell, the NFL's chief operating officer, and Atlanta general manager Rich McKay are the two leading candidates to succeed Tagliabue. Baltimore Ravens president Dick Cass is considered a dark horse.

 

 

Goodell has worked side by side with Tagliabue on numerous issues, ranging from franchise stability, new stadium construction, TV contract negotiations and the most recent collective bargaining agreement, in which he was an active participant.

 

Tagliabue has said he wants to avoid the kind of seven-month deadlock that occurred between him and the late Jim Finks after Rozelle stepped down in March 1989.

 

Tagliabue called Pittsburgh's Dan Rooney, the NFL's senior owner, early Monday to tell him of the decision.

 

"We've got the best labor deal in sports. We've got the best league. He's been our leader. The whole way he's done this has been wonderful," Rooney told The Associated Press.

 

The announcement was made officially in an e-mail to the other owners at noon ET.

 

Tagliabue will stay on with the NFL as a senior executive and a consultant through 2008, part of the contract extension he signed last July.

 

Tagliabue's term will be remembered most for labor peace following strikes in 1982 and 1987. His close relationship with Gene Upshaw, the union's executive director, finally led to a long-term agreement after five years without a contract.

 

But the bargaining was hard this time, with three straight deadline extensions needed. The agreement avoided the prospect of entering free agency this year with the possibility of an uncapped year in 2007.

 

It came at the expense of revenue sharing among the owners, an issue that had divided high-revenue and small-revenue teams and contributed to the deadlock. He did it with what has been considered his greatest skill as commissioner, patching together a coalition of nine teams with differing viewpoints to reach a compromise considered satisfactory by all but two teams.

 

He also oversaw a massive stadium building program. More than two-thirds of the NFL's 32 teams are either playing in or building stadiums that didn't exist when he took over as commissioner in 1989.

 

Before becoming commissioner, Tagliabue was a league lawyer who spent much of that time as the NFL's representative and unofficial lobbyist in Washington.

 

"He has been a tremendous asset to our league and the direction we have taken," said New Orleans owner Tom Benson.

 

"We have experienced very positive growth in the area of revenue sharing and broadcast contracts, we have secured long-term labor peace and have also even encountered some of the worst of times following 9/11, but through it all Paul has been a leader, a friend and a voice that many others within our league and other leagues have followed."

 

He picked up where Rozelle left off very well and led the league into both great prosperity and popularity, so I don't blame him for getting out on a high note. Who do you think will be the next Commissioner?

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Jeez. I liked Tagliabue a lot as commissioner even if he had that misguided notion that L.A. needed a team. The next commish won't be as good, IMO.

[nl5xsk1 0]

Just by the law of averages, the next commissioner will be a step down. Rozelle & Tags were pretty much the bets two commissioners ANY sport has seen in the last 3 or 4 decades. The new guy has big shoes to fill.

[Hawk 34 0]

Tagliabue and France (Sr. and Jr.) are the only commish's or head of operations to improve or keep their industry steady or pushed it to another level.

 

Bettman, Selig and Stern are all failures because their respective sports have have multiple problems, some that they may never recover from.

 

The new commish of NFL will have alot to follow up on as Tagliabue and Rozelle are impossible to live up to.

[jwpeer 0]

I don't know how you can say David Stern is a failure. He's a smart man who knows where to push the NBA: internationally. The NBA financially has grown hand over fist and survived the lost of their BEST PLAYER EVER, and managed to recover from it while under Stern.

 

 

Bettman and Selig suck balls though.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

That's the point. Stern shouldn't have based the league around Jordan.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Can you blame him for doing so?

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Can you blame him for doing so?

 

No.

 

I said this dozens of times during the NHL lockout, the NBA's greatest asset, or one of them, is their ability to market their stars. Everyone and their dog has seen someone in a Lebron James or Garnett jersey. Quick, people who don't follow hockey, name me some of the better teams and players.

[Guest]

The NHL just markets the league. They've gotta cross that bridge.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

I'm glad he's leaving on good terms after his years of great service to the league. It would have been terrible for him to retire with a lockout looming. Now the league should be safe for a while, even if the new guy sucks.

[nl5xsk1 0]

The timing of Bird & Magic and then Jordan is what created the global presence that the NBA is currently enjoying. Stern was along for the ride.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Look at the NFL. It isn't based around ONE guy. You want QBs? You got Peyton, Favre, Brady, etc. HBs? Edge, Lewis, Shaun Alexander, LT, etc. WRs? Marvin Harrison, Randy Moss, T.O., etc. The point is the NFL has those identifiable players and it isn't built around one guy. With the NBA, while there were other stars, it was clearly Jordan's playground. When Dan Marino was on his record breaking run with 61,000 yards and all the other stuff, they still had other stars in the league that you could easily identify with anyways. This is why I think the NFL is the best run league today.

[Hawk 34 0]

Look at the NFL. It isn't based around ONE guy. You want QBs? You got Peyton, Favre, Brady, etc. HBs? Edge, Lewis, Shaun Alexander, LT, etc. WRs? Marvin Harrison, Randy Moss, T.O., etc. The point is the NFL has those identifiable players and it isn't built around one guy. With the NBA, while there were other stars, it was clearly Jordan's playground. When Dan Marino was on his record breaking run with 61,000 yards and all the other stuff, they still had other stars in the league that you could easily identify with anyways. This is why I think the NFL is the best run league today.

 

Baseball, suffers from the same problem. Despite their every intention, MLB is still about Barry and steroids and it's all negative. Like the NBA with Jordan, MLB focused alot on the home run chase aspect of McGwire, Sosa and Bonds and look where it took them.

 

MLB, is doing fine but it does have a image problem that it's going to take time and that IT player to get it back on track. NFL promoted the league and not just a singular player, the NBA tried to do that after Jordan, but realized that nobody can duplicate Jordan. NFL and NASCAR are the only two groups who make their industry bigger and make their stars bigger simultaneously. They recycle excellently as well, NFL lost Elway, Rice, Marino and were able to shift right into the Manning, T.O/MOSS/Johnson, Brady era. NASCAR lost Earnhardt, Waltrip and Wallace and as Gordon's popularity declined...they had a new batch of superstars ready to step up with Stewart, Earnhardt Jr, Busch, Johnson and many others. NASCAR also adapted, made new marketing designs and changed the format to draw more attention without directly compromising itself. It knows what works, they enforce the rules more strictly with actual damaging punishment.

 

 

NBA is still struggling to re-create the formula it used with Magic/Bird and Jordan. Hoping that LeBron/Wade/'Melo can be that new trio but it hasn't been. They hoped Kobe/Garnett/Duncan could and it didn't. They suffered a massive image diaster with Ron Artest and the brawl. NBA has a better chance of rebounding (pardon the pun) then the NHL, will ever have at regaining it's status as a top american sport.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Good god. You know, while I realize Tagliabue's great contributions to the sport, a lot of people are forgetting the ridiculous fines, rules, and regulations that Tagliabue helped further the whole notion of the "No Fun League" under. So, good riddance to that hopefully.

 

Look at the NFL. It isn't based around ONE guy. You want QBs? You got Peyton, Favre, Brady, etc. HBs? Edge, Lewis, Shaun Alexander, LT, etc. WRs? Marvin Harrison, Randy Moss, T.O., etc. The point is the NFL has those identifiable players and it isn't built around one guy. With the NBA, while there were other stars, it was clearly Jordan's playground. When Dan Marino was on his record breaking run with 61,000 yards and all the other stuff, they still had other stars in the league that you could easily identify with anyways. This is why I think the NFL is the best run league today.

While I'd have a difficult time disagreeing with you on it being the best run league today (mostly because of my bias of it being my favorite sport), the NBA also has a lot of its own superstars people are familiar with. Lebron, Kobe, Shaq, Ben Wallace, Kevin Garnett, even Steve Nash is getting up there in terms of superstardom (a second MVP award would help that cause greatly).

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Not to the extent of the NFL guys. I'd reckon more people are going to be likely to recognize Peyton Manning than Steve Nash.

[Fökai 0]

Look at the NFL. It isn't based around ONE guy. You want QBs? You got Peyton, Favre, Brady, etc. HBs? Edge, Lewis, Shaun Alexander, LT, etc. WRs? Marvin Harrison, Randy Moss, T.O., etc. The point is the NFL has those identifiable players and it isn't built around one guy. With the NBA, while there were other stars, it was clearly Jordan's playground. When Dan Marino was on his record breaking run with 61,000 yards and all the other stuff, they still had other stars in the league that you could easily identify with anyways. This is why I think the NFL is the best run league today.

Football players don't take over games with sheer dominance. It's just impossible. A simple double-team of 300-lb. men will stop that. Even then, it's the factors that all fell into place that gets a successful running back to a plateau (offensive line, good playcalling, receivers blocking, etc.) or what-have-you.

 

Basketball players can and will take over games with streaks that involve no one else on the court. THAT is why it's considered an individual sport when it comes to the professional game. Your point makes sense if the NFL and NBA were watched by diffferent people. They're not.

 

EDIT: Uniformity is a great point that someone brought up. Ease up on the fines revolving around endzone dances, tributes (Jake Plummer) and uniform violations.

[Guest]

NBA has a better chance of rebounding (pardon the pun) then the NHL, will ever have at regaining it's status as a top american sport.

The NHL needs a big name American player to bring it back to the mainstream in America. There are guys coming, and I think that a Gold Medal in Vancouver would help too. Maybe Phil Kessel's the guy. I don't know.

 

Regarding Tagliabue, hopefully a guy can come into office that relaxes on some of the rules that cause the NFL to be called the "No Fun League". I want the NFL to have more types of "Super Bowl Shuffle" situations, and more celebrations. The league can grow further if it allows the guys to have a personality on the field, and that's why so many people like Chad Johnson. People hate him too, and I think that's a good thing.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Not to the extent of the NFL guys. I'd reckon more people are going to be likely to recognize Peyton Manning than Steve Nash.

 

While that's certainly true, the NBA enjoyed a pretty big boom last summer in Canada, at least, when Nash took the MVP. I'm still willing to bet the majority of Canadians would be able to pick a Manning or a T.O or an Alexander out of a line-up over Nash or KG.

 

I know this may sound silly, but the 1998 WWF may have been spot on for marketing. There was, of course, "Hey, watch our product, it's awesome", but even apart from Austin and the Rock, everyone got a little credit as far as marketing goes, and the appearance of mainstream celebrities certainly helped.

[Fökai 0]

NBA has a better chance of rebounding (pardon the pun) then the NHL, will ever have at regaining it's status as a top american sport.

Isn't basketball the second biggest sport in the world behind soccer?

 

It won't be long before it passes it. The NBA's legacy around the world will be far greater than the NFL will hope to achieve. THAT is why Stern is as good, or even better, than Tagliabue. The recent ruling on high-schoolers puts him over the top, in my opinion.

[teke184 0]

I'd ease up on some of the celebration fines, but only if the celebration in question is either pretty inoffensive (The "Please don't fine me" sign) or something pretty creative (Terrell Owens' Sharpe incident, Joe Horn's cell phone call).

 

 

Something creative should be acknowledged by the league with a paraphrased version of the manager's comments to Willie Mays Hayes in Major League after a showy basket-catch... "Nice catch, Hayes. Don't ever fuckin' do it again."

[Vampiro69 0]

I am curious as to who they will find that won't go crazy having to deal with Gene Upshaw.

[The Czech Republic 0]

The timing of Bird & Magic and then Jordan is what created the global presence that the NBA is currently enjoying. Stern was along for the ride.

No, Stern spearheaded the NBA marketing blitz. There were always very good players in the league, but they never had the same media machine behind them, and that was Stern's doing. You think he was just sitting there the whole time with his thumb up his ass or something?Of course he has something to do with the exponential growth of the NBA.

 

Gary Bettman is the worst commissioner ever, though. Selig gets all the hate, but in light of all his bumbling, he's presided over the Great Baseball Renaissance, and he's been a big part of putting those wheels into motion. I think deep down he really cares about the game of baseball and wants to do his best, but he's just sort of a schmuck. Whereas you know Bud loves baseball, you can tell Bettman doesn't give a shit about hockey. He's one of Stern's underlings that the league imported in order to implement the same marketing magic that the NBA had, which takes us full-circle to David Stern being brilliant.

[Guest gthureson]

Gary Bettman is the worst commissioner ever, though. .... you can tell Bettman doesn't give a shit about hockey. He's one of Stern's underlings that the league imported in order to implement the same marketing magic that the NBA had, which takes us full-circle to David Stern being brilliant.

 

Well, Bettman is also the first Commissioner hockey ever had, so you make an argument he is also the best as well.

 

But, for all the shit heaped upon Bettman, remember that the owners in hockey probably pull more weight than in other sports. The owners got addicted to expansion money, which made them more than willing to take the expansion fees from suckers in cities like Tampa and Miami, Anaheim, Atlanta, et al.

 

Bettman was the one that pushed expanding hockey into "non-traditional" markets, and never gave enough time between expansion rounds to see if it would actually work. His big mistake was probably figuring that if you could fill the rink for a year or two, than that meant there was actually a market for the NHL. No, what it meant was that you had, probably, 18 000 hockey fans in a city like Miami, and they were *all* at the arena. A crappy team coupled with expensive tickets would lose at least a quarter of those.

 

I mean, lets get serious, after some 30 odd years in Los Angeles, the fan base for the Kings has not grown that much in Los Angeles. They have their hockey fans, and they number somewhere in the area of 15000. Gretzky made it hot for awhile, but after he left, it went back to their traditional market.

 

What should he have done? Bettman should have been looking at markets that could sustain a fan base, through thick and thin, perhaps slowly moving south. Portland or Seattle should have had a team before Miami. A team should have gone back into Minnesota (who lost their team due to the Gunds, not due to the fans) before Anaheim. Columbus was a good choice. Its not a sexy choice like Atlanta, maybe, but the team will last in Ohio.

 

Bettman should have been looking at rising salaries when he started, not kept masking the issue with expansion fees. NHL salaries were outstripping revenue, but while the big markets were doing well (New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Philedelphia), it didn't seem like an issue. When owners in those cities started icing crappy teams while at the same time driving salaries up in some cases, or dumping them hardcore in others, all of a sudden money became an issue.

 

The problem wasn't the Detroit's and Flyer's of the league. It's one thing to pay players and win...it was the Rangers and to a lesser extent, the Bruins. The Bruins if only because of one contract...Martin Lapointe.

 

Somewhat like when Bryn Smith signed a million dollar contract in baseball (a .500 pitcher), a career year from a 3rd line winger getting $4 million on the market really skewed things. As did the Isles and the Yashin contract, as did the Rangers and the contracts they threw at ham and eggers every year.

 

Bettman did little to try and find a solution, instead choosing the nuclear option of losing a season.

 

On the rules side of things, his lack of knowledge of hockey was the problem, and Czech recognizes this correctly. The instigator penalty made it difficult for players to police themselves, leading to a rise in cheap shots. A failure to actually get ref's to call the rulebook made the trap viable. This turned the game into a slow as molasses hook and hold crapfest, but one where the weaker sisters could scratch out some ties and wins with little talent. Which was good for Bettman. Teams in weak markets (Remember who put them there) needed to be competitive and in the playoff hunt to fill seats.

 

But while all this was going on, Bettman was losing teams in solid hockey markets to cities with soft markets. The North Stars, the Jets, the Nordiques and the Whalers got squeezed out of this new NHL, moving to cities where they have by and large, struggled just as much to make ends meet.

 

Don't let the current Hurricanes seasons fool you. That team has not come close to filling the rink unless they are winning games, and sometimes not even then. Phoenix has the same problem. I feel for Gretz. He does not have the time to properly build a team, cause I don't know if the Yotes fans will take, say, 3 weak seasons to allow young guys to play and get better. Dallas has done well, but even taht market looked soft with a weak Stars squad in the few years its happened.

 

We'll see about the Avalanche. Colorado lost one team already, we'll see how well they support a struggling Avs squad, which is what it looks like they will be for a year or so after this season.

 

What is on the plus side for Bettman? Honestly, all I can say is the cap. It was needed, if only because it seemed impossible for NHL ownership to stop themselves from being stupid. But it should not have gone on as long as it did, with the loss of a season.

 

10 years into the Bettman regime....the NHL probably has less exposure in the United States, a worse TV deal than they had then, has not been able to market any of their stars not named Gretzky or Lemieux, has made the league somewhat of a joke with the lost season lockout, and has introduced a tie-eliminating scheme that still has eliminated the single point you get from a non-tie.

 

So, in the wide perspective, Bettman has expanded NHL coverage only by putting teams everywhere, whether the city cares or not, but has not really accomplished any of the goals that he was hired for.

 

If the Penguins are forced to move, than that is five teams under his leadership that has relocated, and none because they got a better offer from another city, but because they could not survive in a decent hockey market within this league.

 

Go figure. End of my rather pointless rant.

[Damaramu 0]

Damn Tagliabue getting rid of Playmakers!

 

The problem I had with the whole Jordan thing was that nobody knew anybody else. You'd try to talk basketball and they'd go "I know Michael Jordan...that's it."

[Guest]

I mean, lets get serious, after some 30 odd years in Los Angeles, the fan base for the Kings has not grown that much in Los Angeles. They have their hockey fans, and they number somewhere in the area of 15000. Gretzky made it hot for awhile, but after he left, it went back to their traditional market.

You are dead wrong with that one. Take a look at attendance figures and sellouts.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

The NHL has been saying attendance has been up.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/attendance?year=2006

 

Bettman is doing alright. It's the owners that need to take responsiblities for their team. If Colorado's attendance shrinks, then it's Avs bandwagon fans fault. On my roller hockey team, they are all Kings fans.

 

Look each team needs to do more marketing. Hockey is a great game to watch live so I think there should be more complementary tickets that way people can become hooked.

[BruiserKC 0]

One legacy Tagliabue left behind that Selig, Bettman, and Stern can't say...no labor problems or battles. Yes, the last labor extension was a battle but Tags and Upshaw both realized that for the good of the league they had to get something done. They knew that with the baseball strike in '94 and the NHL cancelling an entire season fans wouldn't stand for that...most popular league or not.