|
|
| 21st March, 2006 - 5:48 am | Houston Chronicle - NFL owners will begin the search to replace the man described by one of them as one of the "all-time great commissioners in professional sports" ? Paul Tagliabue ? at the spring meetings in Orlando, Fla., next week.
Tagliabue, who announced his retirement Monday after almost 17 years as the commissioner who replaced Pete Rozelle in 1989, has steered the NFL through unprecedented growth. Because of Tagliabue's guidance, the NFL has become a $7 billion-a-year business.
Although the owners will conduct an extensive search, the leading candidates appear to be NFL chief operating officer Roger Goodell and Atlanta Falcons general manager Rich McKay. Dark horses could include NFL general counsel Jeff Pash and Baltimore Ravens president Dick Cass.
"The nature of the job has changed significantly, because now the business demands are entirely different than they were," Texans owner Bob McNair said about the difficulty of finding a replacement. "Football is still football. You're still dealing with owners, coaches and the (players) union. The thing that's really changed is the complexity of the business.
"My preference would be to have someone who has had business experience. It could be that we need two people ? one who's basically the commissioner and runs the football side, and the other would be like the CEO who runs the business side. I don't know, but what if the job is too big at this point in time to have one person responsible for both of those functions?" [READ] |
|
|
