Tagliabue Elected NFL Commissioner as Stalemate Ends

Paul Tagliabue was elected commissioner of the NFL today, seven months after Pete Rozelle announced his retirement.

Dan Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers, chairman of the five-man committee appointed Wednesday night to break the stalemate among the 28 owners, said the committee unanimously recommended the selection of Tagliabue as commissioner for five years.

“We come out of this meeting as one,” Rooney said. “I think everybody just felt it was time to do the job, and it was in the spirit of doing the job for the league.”

The vote of the league’s owners was believed to be unanimous after a long deadlock. In recent weeks, a bloc of owners repeatedly denied the required majority to Jim Finks, the early favorite and recommendation of the original selection committee.

At one point, Finks, president of the New Orleans Saints, came within three votes of election.

“My congratulations go to Paul,” Finks said in a statement released from New Orleans by public relations man Rusty Kasmiersky. “He will be an outstanding commissioner and should serve the NFL for many years to come.”

Tagliabue was en route from his Washington office to Cleveland at the time of the announcement and was not immediately available for comment.

Art Modell of the Cleveland Browns, a staunch Finks supporter, said that within the last 48 hours, Finks was offered a job of president of the NFL in charge of football operations. However, he declined the offer.

“The intention was to bring both Paul Tagliabue and Jim Finks into leadership roles,” Modell said.

Tagliabue, 48, is an NFL counsel and partner in the prestigious law firm of Covington & Burling. He’s been a quiet but powerful league insider for 20 years.

Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Assn., said that players are glad to see the selection process completed and that Tagliabue is not unknown to him.

“We’ve met in the antitrust arena and on issues including drug testing,” Upshaw said in Washington. “I find him to be very straight-forward and he wants to solve problems. He understands things have to be done and has never been opposed to taking action to solve problems.”