Paul Tagliabue
Paul Tagliabue
Paul John Tagliabueis the former Commissioner of the National Football League. He took the position in 1989 and was succeeded by Roger Goodell, who was elected to the position on August 8, 2006. Tagliabue's retirement took effect on September 1, 2006. He had previously served as a lawyer for the NFL. Tagliabue served as Chairman of Board of Directors of Georgetown University from 2008 to 2015...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSports Executive
Date of Birth24 November 1940
CountryUnited States of America
I've spoken to many owners already, and I think there's a really strong consensus that what is needed is a pretty effective leader and someone who can be around for a good, long period of time. Whatever differences people have on specific issues will be pretty well submerged as they try to find the right type of talent to lead thee organization.
We do have serious issues to resolve and there does need to be more outreach and reality on both sides to where the middle is.
We need to continue to be aggressive on this issue of minority hiring -- not just for head coaches, but for the front office -- in many, many different ways.
I thought we were getting beyond stereotypes, especially considering the success of minority coaches in our league. But that didn't carry out in the hiring process this time. It didn't and we have to double our efforts. We need to blitz this issue and not go into a prevent defense because we are going to be judged by what we do and not by what we say.
No sports league has ever had to deal with the issues that we're dealing with. . . . I've told our people to think outside the box,
I don't think the negotiations are going very well. Positions are hardening when they shouldn't be. It is becoming an issue in terms of the financial resources some teams have and some teams don't.
I'm not optimistic, but that's what a difficult negotiation usually entails. We do have serious issues to resolve. There needs to be more outreach and more reality on both sides as to where the middle is.
Concussions is one of these pack journalism issues, frankly. There's no increase in concussions. The number is relatively small. The problem is, it is a journalist issue.
When all was said and done, we reached a consensus. The consensus first was that the priority in this city, in this part of the state, in this part of the country, in this region, had to continue to be recovery and rebuilding from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
We felt the connection between this tragedy and what the people of New York went through on 9/11 (was significant).
These field improvements in Cincinnati and Covington are tangible signs of our Youth Football Fund in action.
The state of Texas, and San Antonio, are helping shelter hurricane victims. That is the most important mission right now.
The situation is about as dire as dire can be.
The sense I have is if we ever get around to considering expansion in the NFL, San Antonio would be on anyone's short list.