Roger Goodell will celebrate the 20th anniversary of being in his role as NFL Commissioner next month.
With his current contract due to expire in March 2027, the general consensus from owners around the NFL is that Goodell will continue in the role beyond that.
By this point, Goodell – who is only the third NFL Commissioner since 1960 – will be 68 years old.
According to a report from Front Office Sports, though, an extension is ‘critical’ and is expected to be agreed to ‘in the coming months.’
This is so that he can be there to steer owners into the upcoming multi-billion dollar broadcasting deals, as well as the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations with players which could yet see the league extend to an 18-game season.
While the NFL has scheduled a special owners meeting for August 26 in Atlanta, it is unlikely that talks at this time will include these extension talks, with the meeting set up primarily for owners to vote on the proposed $9.612 billion sale of the Seattle Seahawks.
After winning Super Bowl LX, the Seahawks were immediately put up for sale by the estate of late owner Paul G. Allen, with a group led by the family of venture capitalist Vinod Khosla swooping in with a bid to purchase the team in mid-July.
Should the vote of the sale pass, this would be an NFL record figure, and would be the second-highest team sale in US major sports history, behind only that of the sale of the NBA juggernauts Los Angeles Lakers to TWG Global’s Mark Walter in June 2025 for $10 billion.
With Goodell’s looming extension not expected to be on the agenda for August’s special meeting, it is undetermined whether it will be on the next meeting set to take place in Manhattan, New York City in October, or whether it will be pushed to the virtual quarterly meeting in December.
Based on previous history, though, a deal could be struck in October, with his 2023 extension being announced in that meeting.
At the time of writing, there doesn’t appear to be any opposition among the league’s 32 owner owners to an expected three-year extension, which would make Goodell 71 at the end of it.
“We’ll see what the future holds,” Goodell said when his 2023 extension was completed amid retirement claims.
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“I don’t know. We’ll see. So I’m not making any commitments other than, for the next three years, I’m going to bust my butt.”
CBA talks with NFLPA set to begin soon
The league’s current labor deal runs through the 2030 season and according to FOS’s report “specifically prohibits the league and owners from unilaterally extending the regular season,” despite some owners’ expectations – albeit unrealistic – that an 18-game season could go ahead as early as 2027.
With recently elected executive director JC Trettor at the helm of the NFL Players’ Association (NFLPA), there is growing expectation that the grass vs turf debate will be high on the list of priorities for the new CBA.
This comes amid the NFLPA’s #WorthTheCost campaign on social media, with players coming together to put increasing pressure on owners, demanding that all NFL stadiums be permanently installed with natural grass playing surfaces instead of artificial turf.
With the 2026 World Cup being held across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, all 11 NFL venues used were mandated by FIFA to install natural grass surfaces to accommodate soccer’s highest-profile stars.
NFL players have been left wondering why the league doesn’t appear to value them in the same way, with some owners choosing to install turf due to it being a much cheaper option in the long-run.
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