greasywheels121 Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2376850 NFL commissioner Tagliabue to retire in July ESPN.com news services 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. 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. The announcement was made officially in an e-mail to the other owners at noon ET. "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." 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." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxFan1 Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Mar 20, 2006 -> 02:53 PM) http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2376850 Holy hell. Nice sig Greasy. As for Tagliabue, meh. I never fancied him as a commissioner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitem0nkey Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 he's done a great job as commissioner and the NFL has thrived during his time on the job. Not an easy guy to replace. i think out of the current commish's in the 4, uh, make that 3 major sports in this country, tags has been by far the most responsible and helpful for his sport. and he was no doubt a big part of settling the cba issues over the past month. maybe some politics here and there, but i'm not sure what's to completely hate about this guy. just my opinion, but i think we're losing a pretty responsible leader for the nfl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rangercal Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 QUOTE(whitem0nkey @ Mar 20, 2006 -> 03:58 PM) he's done a great job as commissioner and the NFL has thrived during his time on the job. Not an easy guy to replace. i think out of the current commish's in the 4, uh, make that 3 major sports in this country, tags has been by far the most responsible and helpful for his sport. and he was no doubt a big part of settling the cba issues over the past month. maybe some politics here and there, but i'm not sure what's to completely hate about this guy. just my opinion, but i think we're losing a pretty responsible leader for the nfl. Agreed. He will be very hard to replace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxAce Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 QUOTE(whitem0nkey @ Mar 20, 2006 -> 03:58 PM) he's done a great job as commissioner and the NFL has thrived during his time on the job. Not an easy guy to replace. i think out of the current commish's in the 4, uh, make that 3 major sports in this country, tags has been by far the most responsible and helpful for his sport. and he was no doubt a big part of settling the cba issues over the past month. maybe some politics here and there, but i'm not sure what's to completely hate about this guy. just my opinion, but i think we're losing a pretty responsible leader for the nfl. Agreed. Very underrated commish. I believe he enhansed the steriod policy back in 89' or later, and what good ol' Bud Selig is doing now nearly 15+ years later. Very fair guy and always try to make the game as good as he could get it. He might be best known for agreeing/putting in the instant replay into the NFL now. Fine job he did and a fine person. Strong view on certain topics. Definitely won't be easy to replace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitesoxfan101 Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 He won't be hard to replace at all. I don't understand why it's turned into a dick sucking fest for Tagliabue since he retired, as he wasn't 1/10th the commish that the man before him (Pete Roselle) was. All he basically had to do with the great things he inherited is not screw it up, and he did do a good job of that. But the talk of him being that great commish and everything is just silly, anybody could have done the job he did based on what he inherited. The one thing I give him credit for is keeping labor piece, and even that isn't a big deal. The players union in the NFL is a joke, and they aren't the reason that deal barely got done, the reason for that was the greedy portion of the owners. /mini rant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyCaucasian Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 Any chance we can get him to come over and run MLB? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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