NFL's Goodell continues to place his imprint on the league

By D. Orlando Ledbetter

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

When Roger Goodell was named the NFL's commissioner in August of 2006, he told team owners he would focus on the quality of the game, fielding 32 strong teams and innovation.

Although there is a potentially messy labor battle with the players' union pending, there is little doubt that in four years Goodell has firmly placed his imprint on the league while conducting it into the 21st century.

Virtually no area of how the league operates has been untouched.

Goodell has set out to preserve the league brand -- protecting the NFL shield, he calls it -- by cracking down on wayward player conduct. He backed the awarding of a Super Bowl to a cold-weather city with an outdoor stadium. He overhauled overtime rules for the playoffs. He is calling for human growth hormone testing in the upcoming labor negotiations.

"I feel very strongly that we cannot be complacent in what we do," Goodelll said after the owner's meeting in Dallas last month. "We have to continue to find ways to grow the game, to reach new fans and to continue to provide quality."

His latest proposal, designed to please fans and create new revenues, is the enhanced 18-game regular season. Instead of playing 16 regular season games and four exhibitions, which the league as done since 1978, teams would play 18 regular season games and two exhibitions.

Several other changes would have to occur. Teams may have to reduce the number of offseason minicamps and organized team activities and perhaps add more players to the rosters or practice squads.

"The primary benefit is that it will be a better product delivered to our fans," Ray Anderson, the NFL's vice president of football operations, said. "It's no secret to anybody that the full [four] preseason games over the last four or five years have simply not been up to the standards of the product that we want to produce for the fans."

Teams have made a common practice to sparingly play their star players in most preseason games. However, fans are expected to pay regular-season prices for the exhibition games.

Falcons owner Arthur Blank is a supporter of the enhanced schedule.

"Our fans have been very clear on that as well, in terms of the percentage of fans that don't show up for those games," Blank said. "So, the league is looking at all of the logistics and dynamics that it would take to extend our season."

No small detail, the enhanced season proposal must first be sold to the players.

"I don't like it at all," said Green Bay cornerback Charles Woodson, the Packers' union player representative. "Playing this game, we're already behind the 8-ball physically and mentally, as this game takes a toll on us. To add two more grueling games to an already grueling season, I don't think it's the right thing for us."

Some coaches want to see more details before they support a longer season.

"They're not going to take a poll and then make a decision based on that. So I'll just let it play out," Jacksonville head coach Jack Del Rio said.

Elsewhere, Goodell has handed out mass suspensions for players and league officials who have violated the league's personal conduct policy.

The league is investigating a shooting after Michael Vick's birthday party in Virginia last week. Also, Detroit Lions president Tom Lewand will likely face disciplinary action following his arrest for driving under the influence in Michigan.

"I think one of the benchmarks and one of the things that stands out to me is protecting the shield," Falcons president Rich McKay said. "It's the ideal of holding players and holding NFL staff and team staff accountable because of the whole phrase that it's a privilege to play and work in the league. It's not a right."

Goodell spoke at the NFL rookie symposium on Sunday, addressing incoming players about the importance of representing themselves properly.

"I think he's done a really good job of establishing that and being very consistent in the fact that he will not tolerate people that do not recognize the importance of the shield and carrying the NFL in the right way," McKay said. "He's made sure that we all understand the emphasis that is placed on it. I think that's a good thing."

Even some of those who have been on the opposite end of Goodell's decisions respect what he has done..

Atlanta-based attorney David Cornwell, who represented Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger against rape allegations in Milledgeville in May, has noticed a shift in NFL thinking.

"There is no question that he took the helm of a seriously successful organization. But at the same time, he had the personality to challenge himself as well as the entire league, from his perspective of ‘how can we make it better?'" Cornwell said. "Whether if it's an 18-game season, the Redzone TV [every touchdown from every game] on the NFL Network, the overtime rules or the playoffs ... he's willing to be an innovator as well as decisive."

While the labor situation now has most of Goodell's and the league's attention, some proposed changes for the future could be far-reaching. The league, for instance, could play more games internationally.

"One of our goals is to take the game more globally," Anderson said. "One of the things that the 18-game regular season will bring to us is more content or games, to be able to take more regular season games overseas."

Other potential changes include placing a franchise in Los Angeles, continuing to develop technology and possibly adding a developmental league or a player developmental academy.

"Every time that we, as a senior group, meet, one of things [Goddell] encourages us to do is to think outside of the box and do not be comfortable with the status quo," Anderson said. "If there is way that we can make it better, make it better. Innovation is a key part of it. That's just part of who he is."