Roger Goodell’s contract extension will take him through the 2023 season as commissioner. The NFL will have a new Commissioner when it expires, league spokesman Joe Lockhart said Wednesday.
“The Commissioner has been clear that he views this as his last contract and will allow him to both deal with some of the important issues that we know are on the horizon -- the CBA, our network partners -- and it’ll also allow him to spend a significant amount of time not only at his level but among his executives working on succession,” Lockhart said during the annual NFL owners meetings at the Four Seasons in Irving, Texas.
Goodell signed the five-year extension worth up to $200 million if owners approve all bonuses and incentives are met. Lockhart said “almost 90 percent of the compensation is performance-based and not guaranteed.”
“Most of the owners will have some involvement in the oversight as we look at these things over the next seven years,” Lockhart said. “There are no post-retirement consulting payments of any kind after the commissioner leaves. The commissioner, as he does now, has use of a plane, but as he does now, he pays for private use. Going forward, if he wants to use, we use NetJets, and if he wants to use that, he will pay for that. There’s been significant uninformed discussion about that.”
The oversight of the bonuses and incentives falls in line with one of Jerry Jones’ concerns, so the Cowboys owner likely will claim at least a small victory.
The Compensation Committee also used an independent compensation consultant to help in the process.
"[The consultant] concluded, at the end, that this contract met all the goals that had been set out by the committee at the outset of the discussions, which were well over a year,” Lockhart said.
The Compensation Committee received unanimous authorization from the owners in May 2017 to execute the contract, and it the six-member Committee did just that. Still, the entire ownership was expected to discuss it yet again Wednesday, even though it is done.
“All the owners had the opportunity to weigh in,” Lockhart said. “I think it’s worth noting that the Commissioner’s contract and the extension has been talked about at every league meeting this year. Everyone has been up to date in group settings. Each of the owners has been contacted multiple times through the year. The Compensation Committee split them up.”