National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell made $32 million dollars last year, which amazingly was a pay cut from 2014.
According to Sports Business Daily, when the NFL released their tax returns it was revealed that commissioner Roger Goodell made almost $32 millions dollars last season. His actual compensation was $31.74 million, which was down from the $34 million dollars he made in 2014.
Goodell, who has been the NFL’s commissioner since 2006, has averaged over $21 million dollars in compensation during his tenure. In total, he has made over $212 million dollars in his ten years at the helm of the NFL. The next highest paid executive, Jeff Pash, made only $6.5 million.
This will be the last year that his compensation will be made public knowledge, as the NFL switched their status from exempt to taxable. Last year, the NFL announced they will drop it’s nonprofit status because it has become a distraction. Being labeled a nonprofit is what made the league responsible for making the commissioner’s pay public.
The 57-year old Goodell began his career in the National Football League in1982 as an administrative intern for then-commissioner Pete Rozelle. 24 years later, Goodell beat out Gregg Levy to earn the job as league commissioner, and began his reign on September 1, 2006.
Goodell has not had the most pleasant time as commissioner since taking over for Paul Tagliabue. He has gone out of his way to “protect the shield”, and it has rubbed players the wrong way. Whether it was Deflategate, the Ray Rice incident, or lockouts, Goodell has taken the blame for most of the issues the NFL has had to deal with.
Still, there is no question that the sport has thrived under his leadership, and continues to be the most popular sport in America.
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