National Football League

The eighth commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell has overseen the league’s expansion to a seventeen-game season, the negotiation of media rights deals collectively worth over $100 billion, and the introduction of international regular-season games in London, Munich, São Paulo, and Madrid. A polarizing figure who has weathered controversies from Deflategate to the national anthem protests, Goodell nonetheless presides over a league whose revenues and cultural reach continue to grow.

The architect of modern professional football. Rozelle negotiated the AFL–NFL merger, created the Super Bowl, and pioneered the league’s television strategy—most notably the concept of revenue sharing that turned the NFL into a model of competitive balance. His three-decade tenure transformed football from a regional pastime into America’s dominant sport.

Tagliabue guided the NFL through the free-agency era, implementing the salary cap that would define modern roster construction. He expanded the league to thirty-two teams, navigated labor peace through multiple collective bargaining agreements, and laid the groundwork for the international games program.