Roger Goodell has been running the NFL since 2006, and every couple of years the league goes through the same ritual: rumors of a new deal, weeks of "it's close but not done," and then owners rubber-stamping it anyway. We're apparently back in that cycle. Per Washington Post NFL insider Mark Maske, owners are expected to wrap up a fresh extension with Goodell in the coming months.
The report making the rounds: owners are expected to finish Goodell's next extension soon, per Mark Maske.
This isn't new territory for Goodell or for the owners who employ him. His last extension, finalized back in 2023, runs through March of 2027 — a three-year deal that came together only after months of back-and-forth reporting from Maske and others about whether it would actually get ratified. Now, with that deal set to run out, the league is apparently already lining up what comes next, reportedly eyeing a runway that could push his tenure toward 2030.
Whatever you think of the guy — and NFL fans have never been shy about how they feel about Goodell, from Deflategate to the Ray Rice fallout to just about every discipline ruling he's ever handed down — the business case for keeping him around is not complicated. Under his watch the league has turned into an even bigger money machine, with franchise valuations, media rights deals, and international expansion all ballooning. Owners don't hand out $700 million-plus in career earnings because they're sentimental.
That's the paradox of Goodell: he might be the most booed man in every NFL stadium in America, yet he remains the most secure executive in professional sports. Every extension talk follows the same script — fans groan, owners quietly agree it's good for business, and the deal eventually gets done. There's no real indication this round will play out any differently.
Expect the usual slow drip over the next few months: reports that talks are "progressing," a league meeting where it almost gets voted on, and then eventually a formal announcement that reads like it was inevitable the whole time. Because at this point, with Goodell, it usually is.