Goodell’s Candidacy Gets an Endorsement

The job is hard. The answer -- at least in the eyes of one former NFL owner -- is easy.

Red McCombs, former owner of the Minnesota Vikings, says Roger Goodell should be the next NFL commissioner. With the field down to five candidates, the successor to retiring Paul Tagliabue is expected to be chosen next week at league meetings in Chicago.

“Roger has to be their guy,” said McCombs, who, since he is no longer an owner, doesn’t have a say in the matter. “I don’t see why they’re going through all the delays. ... It’s a no-brainer.”

Current team owners are mum on which way they’re leaning. The finalists are Goodell, Tagliabue’s right-hand man and the league’s chief operating officer; league attorney Gregg Levy; Frederick Nance, a Cleveland lawyer; Robert L. Reynolds, vice chairman of Fidelity Investments; and Mayo A. Shattuck, president and chief executive of Constellation Energy.

Goodell, 47, who over the last 24 years has worked his way up from NFL intern, is the best-known of the finalists among owners and was a key player in more than a dozen new stadium deals.

“You look at the last round of agreements with broadcasters, the contract with the players’ union is all settled, and Roger has been in the middle of all of it,” said McCombs, who sold the Vikings for $600 million in May 2005. “He’s smart and he stays behind the scenes.

But the owners have been careful not to identify a favorite. To be elected, a candidate must receive 22 of the league’s 32 votes.

“I think that it’s a good challenge to have here, to elect a commissioner out of this particular group,” said Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, a member of the commissioner search committee. “These guys have shown the ability to deal with the owners, the problems, our constituencies, the fans. These guys have shown it all.”