It’s no secret that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell grew up in Washington, D.C., as a fan of the then-Washington Redskins. The son of a former United States Senator, Goodell became a fan of the Washington franchise when the legendary head coach George Allen took over the franchise in 1971.
“I was a Colts fan through the 60s when I grew up in Washington,” Goodell said in an interview with the Big Lead in 2009. “Then I became a Redskins fan. I think a lot of it had to do with George Allen coming in and taking over the Redskins.”
While Goodell long ago gave up his fandom when he first began working in the NFL offices in the 1980s, he never lost sight of his once-favorite team and what has happened to the franchise under Daniel Snyder’s ownership since 1999.
Goodell has personally had to deal with the fallout of many of the issues surrounding Snyder over the years, including the multiple investigations into his alleged misconduct and the franchise’s formerly toxic workplace.
But since the franchise went up for sale in November, Goodell has toed the company line and asked Snyder’s fellow owners to do the same after Colts owner Jim Irsay spoke out against Snyder in October.
Now that the franchise has a deal in place for Snyder to sell to Josh Harris, Goodell is still saying all the right things.
“I think we’ll get it to a place where it will be approved,” Goodell said Tuesday at a news conference with reporters at the NFL owners meetings in Minnesota, per Nicki Jhabvala and Mark Maske of The Washington Post.
“The [finance] committee really just had their first meeting on the matter. We really got the documents last week. So we’re hard at work as a staff looking at that, as we do every transaction. There’s a lot of due diligence as well as compliance issues. All of that’s happening and working full speed… .And we’ll have a meeting at the appropriate time.”
Fair enough.
From that point, JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington and 106.7 The Fan asked Goodell if it was a priority for the NFL to get back into Washington, D.C., by building the Commanders’ new stadium in the district.
“Listen, I have had the conversation with the Mayor [Muriel Bowser],” Goodell said. “I’ve had conversations with others in the Washington, D.C. region. As you probably knew, I grew up in Washington, D.C., going over to RFK Stadium, so I understand the passion of the fans in Washington. I think that’s something the new ownership is going to have to address,” Goodell said. “It is not something we’re requiring in the context of the transaction. But I know that the new ownership will be focused on it, just from the limited conversations I’ve had with them.”
I asked Roger Goodell if getting the Commanders back into DC was a priority – he talked about going to RFK Stadium as a kid and knowing the passion that brought. Goodell also explained he’s talked with Mayor Bowser pic.twitter.com/0VZqT3byDe
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) May 23, 2023
Virginia may offer the best incentive for a new stadium, and Maryland may want to keep the Commanders in P.G. County, but building a new stadium in the District remains the team’s No. 1 preference.
