Report: NFL Owners Expected to Extend Roger Goodell's Contract Next Week

NFL owners and commissioner Roger Goodell are close to an agreement on a multi-year contract extension, ESPN reported Monday night.

The pact, speculated to be three years, could be finalized next week at the owners' meetings in Phoenix. Goodell, 64, is entering the final year of his contract, which expires the day before the 2024 league year starts next March, according to NBC Sports.

Goodell succeeded Paul Tagliabue in 2006 and received contract extensions three previous times, most recently in 2017. Goodell's salary is unknown, although the New York Times reported he made $128 million from 2019-21. That report said as much as 90 percent of his compensation was in the form of incentives tied to labor and media rights negotiations.

According to ESPN's report, Goodell's next deal also is expected to be heavily incentive-laden. If that's the case, it bodes well for him given recent developments.

The NFL and its players signed a new collective bargaining agreement in 2020. Its most recent round of media rights deals with CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN and Amazon were worth more than $100 billion. More recently, the league locked up a multi-billion dollar deal with YouTube to stream its Sunday Ticket package of games.

Franchise values also have increased exponentially under his leadership. There were seven team transactions, averaging a little more than $600 million, during the decade before Goodell became commissioner. There have been seven since, and those have averaged $1.85 billion, per NBC Sports. The most eye-catching was last summer's sale of the Denver Broncos to Rob Walton for $4.65 billion.

It hasn't been all smooth sailing during Goodell's tenure, however.

The NFL has faced criticism for its handling of player protests for everything from kneeling during the national anthem to police brutality.

Some have wondered if the league was too slow to address the long-term impact of concussions. As recently as October, the NFL and its players' association modified concussion protocols after an investigation of a disturbing incident on Sept. 25. Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa left a game against the Buffalo Bills after a hit that staggered him. It was announced as a head injury, yet he returned to the game in the second half.