Roger Goodell marks six years on top job in the NFL

CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has his hands full these days.

He has locked-out game officials in a dispute over benefits, and the league will make history Thursday with its first female official. Goodell has slapped New Orleans Coach Sean Payton with a yearlong suspension and is being sued for defamation by Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma.

And, a year after the labor meltdown with players, and the signing of a 10-year collective bargaining agreement and 10-year TV deals, the pressures to make the game as safe as possible, safeguard the image of the league, and put fans in the seats are ever-present.

So when reminded that Wednesday was the sixth anniversary of his tenure as the top executive in the nation’s most powerful and most watched sports league, Goodell quipped: “Seems like a lot longer than six years.”

Goodell returned to the Chautauqua Institute on Wednesday — a resort where he spent many summers of his youth — and participated in a wide-ranging, moderated discussion with Mike Slive, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, focused loosely on ethics in sports. The moderator was Luke Russert of NBC News.

Before speaking to a packed amphitheater, Goodell met with reporters and answered questions on a number of topics, including Shannon Eastin, a woman who will be a line judge in an exhibition game Thursday between Green Bay and San Diego.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for her and for us,” he said. “She deserves the opportunity, she’s well prepared for it, and I think she’ll do terrific. We’re excited about that, and there are more [women] coming. We’ve been working along this path to properly train a female official, and now we have the opportunity.”

Asked whether those additional women would be replacement officials or would be hired when and if an agreement is reached with locked-out officials, Goodell said: “They could be replacements, but hopefully we’ll get this resolved sooner rather than later. But we’re prepared to go forward with the season, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

With area fans concerned about Buffalo’s ability to hang on to the Bills, and with New York Sen. Charles Schumer asking the league to loan the franchise as much as $25 million to upgrade Ralph Wilson Stadium, Goodell said it’s a priority to keep the team where it is.

“Everybody wants the Bills to be here in western New York, in Buffalo,” Goodell said. “They want to do it in a successful way, and their lease is up. So it’s important to have a long-term lease that will address the short-term stadium issues and the long-term stadium issues, and make sure the team is successful here.”

Later, in the amphitheater talk, Goodell touched on a number of topics. Among them:

•The threat of gambling influences: “We want to make sure that you, as fans, are watching an NFL game, there are no outside influences to that game. That you know people are playing the game as hard as they possibly can, they’re playing to win, and there are no outside influences.”

•The possibility of increasing the number of years that a prospect must be removed from high school to be eligible for the draft (it currently is at least three years): “I would love for it to go back to four years. We have to have an agreement with our players association We are fortunate in that we won in litigation defending [the three-year requirement], and this is one of the rules that distinguishes us from other sports.”

•Blood testing for human growth hormone, and testing for steroids in general: “We had that in our collective bargaining agreement, and we’re still debating different aspects of it. But it’s in the best interest of our sport [to test], and it’s important for the safety of our players. HGH is not available, except on the black market, for the purposes in which they are using it. So basically people are putting things in their body when they have no idea what the long-term consequences are.”

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