NFL Commissioner Goodell Made Almost $128M in Two Years

One of the highest-paid members of the NFL hasn’t played a single game: commissioner Roger Goodell.

Goodell was reportedly paid $63.9 million in each of the last two fiscal years, for a total of $127.8 million, about 90% of which was in bonuses. His compensation was revealed during a two-day NFL owners meeting this week.

In 2017, Goodell signed a five-year, $200 million contract that runs from 2019 to 2024. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones pushed for a bonus-heavy deal structure due to his dissatisfaction with Goodell’s performance.

Goodell, who is currently facing national scrutiny for his handling of harassment allegations against the Washington Football Team, has notched some major victories under his current deal.

• He negotiated a 10-year collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association, which added a 17th regular-season game. The players narrowly approved the deal in March 2020.
• A year later, he inked $113 billion in media deals with NBC, CBS, Fox, Disney, and Amazon.
• In April, the league signed Genius Sports to a six-year data distribution deal worth $120 million annually.
• In September, the league partnered with Dapper Labs to create an NFT marketplace along the lines of NBA Top Shot.

More deals are in the works. The NFL is seeking buyers for its NFL Sunday Ticket package at $2 billion to $2.5 billion per year. The league hired Goldman Sachs in June to source deals for its NFL Media properties including NFL Network and NFL RedZone.