Storyline: Make no mistake about it: Roger Goodell stood up to power in maintaining Brady’s 4-game suspension. It’s an atypical, but welcome, change in the landscape of sports leadership. But it’s only a start.
Roger Goodell stands tall.
Did I really say that? Yes! I mean it, too.
Goodell did something I didn’t think would happen in the politically charged realty of big-time sports: he didn’t kowtow to political influence and he wouldn’t capitulate to power—even when it was in his best interests to do so.
Courtesy: nypost.com
Goodell did the right thing instead. Goodell acted with integrity and forthrightness in the face of malfeasance. He said, “No!” to Pats owner, Robert Craft, and high-profile athlete, Tom Brady. Brady’s four-game suspension will stand.
We may never know Brady’s complete role in the DeflateGate fiasco, but what we know is this: the Pat’s owner and his offensive leader have behaved badly. Craft expected the League to protect his team. Brady expected to be treated like the superstar he is on the field.
Neither happened. And Goodell showed the country he has balls—fully inflated ones, too.
It’s an incredible story, too, a much-needed chapter in a NFL book of team and player indiscretions, mischief, and illegalities. It’s also a book that’s chock-full of NFL administrative missteps and mishandlings.
Courtesy cbsports.com
What makes this chapter so different, so important? It’s the politics of the thing. The NFL is a membership organization, just like the American Red Cross. Each has a national headquarters with local “chapters.” But the ARC isn’t owned privately by financial magnates who have big-time power and influence. Face it: Boston, Hartford, and the New England region don’t own the Pats. A public utility it’s not. Craft owns the team. Repeat: he OWNS it. It’s his, just like your home, car, and other personal assets are yours. It’s ditto across the league, save Green Bay.
This kind of membership affiliation has benefits. Let’s call it crony capitalism. Owners (and corporate partners) are able to control their collective future within broad limits of actionable territory. They’re able to do it because the general public benefits—financially and emotionally (as fans)—from their investments. In plain English it means they get to call most of the shots.
Courtesy: Washington Post
Sure, every once and a while a commissioner will rise from the boardroom table and make a ruling that everybody applauds as “the right thing to do.” Silver did that in Sterling matter. But, let’s not kid ourselves: those calls are much easier to make than the one just made by Roger Goodell.
Why? Any alternative to what Silver decided would have implicated the NBA Commissioner in the problematique … and no executive leader, especially a new one, wants to experience that fate. Besides, the political bar is sometimes low. There was public support for Silver to make his call and NBA owners wanted action to protect their assets. Both circumstance were in place for Silver. He acted…and came out smelling like a rose.
But in comparison to Goodell’s ruling on Brady what Silver did in the Sterling matter is akin to hitting a HR in slow-pitch softball. Goodell’s situation is more complex, difficult, and controversial. It’s stunningly different. Here’s why.
Goodell confronted the owner a team that had just won the NFL Championship.
Goodell confronted an owner who helped put him in the commissioner’s office.
Goodell confronted a player who’s a lock to be in the NFL Hall of Fame.
Goodell intervened with mixed public response. where more than a few people see Goodell as the problem.
Goodell intervened in a way that forced owners to take sides–support the commissioner or support a peer.
Goodell intervened in a matter that will put him in a courtroom as defendant in a lawsuit (filed by Brady).
Yeah! Goddell did something that’s called L E A D E R S H I P.
He did it—in his own words—“for the good of the game,” to protect its integrity, to enhance the public’s trust.
That’s all good. It’s great progress. I’m in. And I’m thankful.
But it’s not enough.
What we need now is more than one person, albeit the head guy, in one situation standing up and doing the right thing. We need the NFL to have a system in place to handle matters like this.
Courtesy: www.latintimes.com
The fundamental problem, as I see it, is this: the NFL (and all professional and other sports leagues) view themselves as an athletic association. In professional sports it’s about the business of leading and managing an athletic association. The people in charge KNOW HOW to run business. Some are better than others, of course, but they’re all generally good at what they do.
But here’s the thing: the “what they do” has changed significantly over the years. Today’s sports world isn’t just about about money-management, signing players, marketing and branding, etc. Today sports are also very much about handling the social and political realities (and issues) associated with sports, things, like how to address head injuries in sports.
To get good at that dimension—at least for now—we need executives, like Goodell, to surround himself with professionals who have extensive background in handling matters like the Pat’s-Brady case. Those type of folks need to recommend systems and procedures that the NFL, and other entities (at all levels), can adapt and adopt.
Over time we need to have some of these folks migrate into head positions. That’s a sure way to integrate the business of sports with the social and political realities of sports. Because these two dimensions are intertwined the next generation of sports leaders and managers need to be adapt at handling both dimensions.
Courtesy: USA Today Sports
That’s not too much to ask, really. Why? If it doesn’t happen we’ll just get “more of the same” –the kinds of articles that we read about (everyday it seems) in the papers. And it’s likely that more of the same will get worse over time. These issues aren’t going to go away.
In the meantime, though, we can celebrate Goodell’s leadership.
We can decry the pooer leadership shown by Craft and Brady. (How sad it is to say that about the League’s CHAMPIONS!)
And we can hope for a better future.
We need it badly.
Great job, Frank!
You should really retract this entire article following the release of the transcripts. Roger Goodell lied to you and everyone else in a way to manipulate Tom Brady’s testimony and now his deceit has been brought to light. According to you, he did all this for the ‘good of the game’? You and him should wright a book on ‘Leadership’.