Paul Tagliabue

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Paul John Tagliabue (born November 24, 1940 in Jersey City, New Jersey) is the outgoing Commissioner of the National Football League. He took the position in 1989 and is expected to leave office in August 2006. He had previously served as a lawyer for the NFL.

Contents

1 Personal life
2 National Football League

2.1 Response to September 11 attacks
2.2 Retirement

3 Legacy

3.1 Praise
3.2 Criticism
3.3 Potential Successors

4 External links

Personal life

The Tagliabue family is Italian American. Tagliabue's forebears originate from the vicinity of Como in Lombardy (Lombardia). ("Tagliabue" is roughly translated from Italian as "cut the steer"). Tagliabue was the third of four children in a working-class family and grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey. He graduated from Georgetown University in 1962, where he played basketball for the Hoyas before the school became a major basketball power, and was one of the leading rebounders in school history. He still ranks in the school's top 20 in career rebounds and top 10 in rebounding average. Tagliabue initially majored in mathematics before switching to the liberal arts. He became more interested in academics than basketball, becoming a Rhodes Scholar finalist as a senior. He went on to earn a full scholarship and law degree from New York University School of Law in 1965. In the same year, Tagliabue married Chandler (Chan) Minter of Milledgeville, Georgia. They were married in Washington, D.C., and lived there from 1965 until he became NFL Commissioner in 1989. Tagliabue has two children: a son, Andrew Philip, born in 1969, and a daughter, Emily Elizabeth, born in 1972. In 1996, Emily joined the prominent Rockefeller family by marrying Jamie Rockefeller, the son of Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).

Mr. and Mrs. Tagliabue were honored by PFLAG for their help with PFLAG's Stay Close campaign, working with such celebrities as Ben Affleck, Rosario Dawson, and Cyndi Lauper. Their son, Drew, is gay. Mrs. Tagliabue expressed her outrage at anti-gay groups for their attacks on family values. Tagliabue has actively made the league market toward homosexuals.

Tagliabue's interests extend well beyond football. He follows international affairs and globalization closely, having served as founding chairman of the board of directors of the Neil D. Levin Graduate Institute of International Relations and Commerce, part of the State University of New York . A voracious reader, he studies business management, sports history, and current affairs books. Tagliabue believes strongly that the 21st century will be driven by China and other Asian countries. He plans to live in China for up to six months upon his retirement from the N.F.L.

National Football League

After serving as a lawyer for the NFL, Tagliabue was selected by NFL owners to succeed Pete Rozelle as Commissioner of the NFL in 1989.

Response to September 11 attacks

After the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Tagliabue took no chances and canceled all games because players felt that games cannot be played after so much death and destruction were seen live on television and most importantly, there were concerns about security needed to have so many events so soon after the attacks. This was the first time the NFL had postponed all its games. Because of the attacks, all Super Bowl games starting in 2002 have been designated National Special Security Events (NSSE).

Retirement

On March 20, 2006, Paul Tagliabue announced that he would retire in July, after serving as NFL commissioner for more than 16 years. Tagliabue has said that he would be willing to defer his retirement temporarily if a new commissioner has not been elected by his retirement date. In May the target date for his retirement was postponed to August 18.

Legacy

Praise

Tagliabue is widely regarded to have done an outstanding job as commissioner, with some sports writers going so far as to call him the greatest commissioner in the history of North American professional sport. This is an incredible achievement in and of itself, magnified by the fact of the person he replaced: Pete Rozelle, the man that orchestrated the NFL-AFL merger and arguably brought the NFL to prominence. Tagliabue is generally regarded with respect by the sports media, which has given him the nickname Tags (first affixed by the New York Daily News).

Proponents of the claim of Tagliabue's greatness point to such accomplishments as:

No players' strikes or lockouts during Tagliabue's term, an accomplishment unmatched by any of the other current commissioners. He made it a priority to develop a strong relationship with the player's union and its head, Gene Upshaw, from the start of his tenure. Furthermore, Tagliabue ended his tenure as commissioner by negotiating a new agreement with the NFL players' union that averted an uncapped year and potential labor stoppage. The agreement ensures labor peace for a few years but it remains for his successor to flesh out and build upon it in order to ensure labor peace in the long-term.

Supporting the football institutional base: Tagliabue emphasized the need for there to be strong youth, high school, and college football programs around the country in order for the NFL to thrive. The NFL runs a youth football program to promote its sport. Tagliabue also focused on reaching out to women and Hispanics in order to tap into two key demographics.

17 new stadiums built during Tagliabue's tenure: More than half of the league is playing in stadiums that did not exist when Tagliabue took office. In some cases Tagliabue was able to help secure government financing to cover the cost of these expensive structues. Since government financing is controversial and not sufficient, he also launched a major effort to raise private capital for new stadiums, including offering NFL teams loans from the league office derived from assessments made against television revenue. By providing loans to teams, the league helped usher in the creation of many new stadiums. The improved atmosphere of the new stadiums led to increased attendances, especially by women and children, and the greater number and higher quality of the luxury suites in the stadiums led to substantial source of revenue growth.

The strictest substance abuse policy of any professional league. Tagliabue's hard line against drug abuse has led to increased respect for NFL players and even been complimented by members of the U.S. Congress. He also has stressed presenting a professional and clean image of the NFL and its players to the public. Strict rules are in place and enforced as to player's sock length, uniform appearance, and sideline attire. Protecting the NFL brand from tarnishment was a key priority.

TV Rights Contracts and the NFL Network: 55% of the NFL's revenue are from its television contracts and under Tagliabue the revenue from these contracts grew substantially each time the NFL negotiated them with the major media companies. Also, the NFL Network, a NFL-owned cable station, was launched. It provides the NFL direct access to its fans, leverage with the media companies when it comes to broadcast rights fees (since some games can be shown on the NFL Network), and the opportunity to experiment with a small slate of games and test new ways of broadcasting games. Tagliabue also emphasized the important role digital media rights would play in the 21st century both as a source of revenue and as a means of providing fans with content.

The institution of revenue sharing that is far more extensive than any other major league, and the negotiation of a salary cap system that is the strictest of any of the major leagues. Both revenue sharing and the salary cap were successfully introduced without recourse to work stoppages. They help contribute to competitive balance. Equally important, most promotional and television rights reside at the league-level, rather than at the team-level. By collectively negotiating, the league is able to extract a premium from sponsors and media companies and provide revenue to smaller-market teams that they on their own could not garner.

A separation in the popularity between the NFL compared to the other North American major sports leagues which took place over his 16-year tenure. Although the NFL was undoubtedly already a major league when Tagliabue took office, he will leave the NFL as the world's most lucrative sports league with annual revenues that tower over its three main rivals - despite the fact that the NFL plays a much shorter schedule and only a fraction of the games played by Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association or the National Hockey League.

International expansion: Tagliabue encouraged the growth of the game internationally, supporting NFL Europe despite financial losses and holding the first regular-season game outside of the U.S. in the 2005 season when two teams played in Mexico. Tagliabue set in motion plans to try to expand the game in Asia, although his successor will have to follow through on that strategy.

Criticism

The accomplishments listed above have all contributed to franchise stability that is unmatched by any North American league. Under Tagliabue's tenure, even the Green Bay Packers, who play in relatively tiny Green Bay, Wisconsin have successfully competed both on and off the field with teams from the larger U.S. cities.

However, Tagliabue's time in office has not come and gone without its share of critics, who point to:

The re-location of both Los Angeles franchises and the subsequent failure to replace at least one of them in the second largest U.S. city. Tagliabue instead chose to replace teams in Cleveland and Houston. However, Tagliabue's supporters point out that Cleveland and Houston both agreed to replace their dilapidated stadiums with government financing, something that Californian politicians have generally been unwilling to do. They also point out that Tagliabue has subtlely used the threat of re-locating a team back to Los Angeles as a powerful hammer to convince other NFL cities to replace or at least upgrade their stadiums.

The increasing revenue disparity between high and low revenue teams. The owners have yet to come to a firm and detailed solution as to how to address the increasing disparities.

The delayed impasse with the player's association over key issues: Tagliabue was able to end his tenure with a CBA extension in 2006 but his last CBA extension as Commissioner did not resolve many key issues. Revenue-sharing among the owners remains an area of disagreement. The details of the terms the NFL and player's association agreed have not been resolved by the parties. Finally, the labor pact is a short-term solution that can be terminated prior to 2011. It kicks many key issues down the road for Tagliabue's successor to deal with.

The pursuit of what some see as excessively strict rules against taunting, "show-boating", dress code violations, etc.

Lack of a charisma and football background: Tagliabue made limited public appearances and was never considered a charismatic speaker. However, behind closed doors he was more at ease and helped broker many deals with his wit and humor. At the same time, Tagliabue faced the stigma among some owners of being the league's lawyer, rather than a man from a football background, when he was selected for the post in 1989. Eventually, he won over many of his critics, although he is still not regarded as a "football guy".

Potential Successors

No successor had been named as of July 5, 2006, although Roger Goodell the league's Chief Operating Officer and Rich McKay, general manager of the Atlanta Falcons, are considered leading candidates. Goodell, a career-long NFL employee, handles the league's football operations and properties (licensing, sponsorships). He also helped lead the league's stadium financing program and negotiated a lucrative set of TV contracts with the media companies in 2004 and 2005 in addition to assisting with CBA negotiations in 2006. Dick Cass, president of the Baltimore Ravens, is considered a "dark horse." Current U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was also considered to be a possibility, the Commissioner of the NFL is her dream job, but said she would decline if asked to succeed Tagliabue. NFL Network employee and longtime sportscaster Rich Eisen announced his serious interest on the March 27 edition of the show he anchors, NFL Total Access. A close personal friend of Tagliabue's, Jim Hake has also been considered for the position. Florida Governor Jeb Bush was also contacted regarding interest in the position, but he has since declined the offer.

External links

[Official Site of the NFL]

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