The NFL has labor peace, an enviable broadcast rights package and a successful commissioner who just agreed to a three-year contract extension.
All is well at 345 Park Avenue.
But will a new collective bargaining agreement and a new broadcast deal be negotiated by Roger Goodell in the years to come?
Though it was clear for more than a year Goodell would get the extension, NFL team owners are interested in finally putting together a succession plan for Goodell in the event there's a new commissioner by the time his deal is up in March 2027.
"He's in great shape and he's enthusiastic and he's excited about taking the league to newer heights, and I can't say for sure that in 2027 is definitely the end for him," Colts owner Jim Irsay said Wednesday at the conclusion of the fall league meetings. "Maybe it is, maybe that's when he's going to want to retire.
"The owners have to talk about that already and going forward so we're ahead of the curve in preparations and having those internal discussions."
There is no clear successor to Goodell, either inside the NFL or outside. When Paul Tagliabue retired in 2006, Goodell was the obvious heir to the throne. He was a 47-year-old NFL lifer who could usher the league into the next century of business.
Irsay said aloud what has been whispered in league circles in recent years: the potential to split the commissioner's position into two jobs in the future. Bifurcating the position would mean something like a commissioner of football and a CEO of business. There are several qualified candidates internally and externally for those respective positions.
It's also not a new idea. In 1989, Jim Finks turned down the offer to be the commissioner of football alongside Paul Tagliabue, who would run business operations. Tagliabue, of course, would hold the commissioner title alone.
One high-ranking NFL team source called the consideration to split the job into two the "worst idea I've ever heard."
"The business of football is the sport itself. To me you can't separate them," the source said. "That balance is the entire job."
The league's CBA runs through March 2030. The TV deals run through 2033 but allow for the NFL to opt out of those deals around the time the CBA is up. With an ever-changing viewing landscape, and as the league continues to add new partners, the business of football grows more complicated and complex.
But would Goodell simply retire ahead of such major decisions? Sources around the league expressed doubt this week to CBS Sports that this would be Goodell's last deal. When speaking about Goodell, multiple people referenced Bob Iger, the long-time Disney CEO who retired at 70 years old just to come out of retirement a year later and replace his successor.
Goodell will be 68 at the time of the expiration of his contract. On Wednesday he declined to even entertain any questions about his future beyond his new deal.
"I'm honored to do this job and it's not going to change how I do my day-to-day," Goodell said. "For the next three years, I'm going to bust my butt."
And that may be all the more reason for Goodell to push to stay another term. He is indistinguishable from the shield, and he could determine he's the person best suited to set up the league for its future at the end of the decade.
