NFL team owners are lining up to extend the contract of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. This shows how the league plans to navigate its broadcasting rights, player safety disputes, and financial strategy in the coming years.

Goodell's current deal is set to expire in March 2027, when he'll be 68, after completing a three-year extension in October 2023. Front Office Sports' Mark Maske reported the probable extension on July 20.

"They(NFL team owners) expect to finalize an extension with him(Goodell) in the coming months to keep him in place to oversee the negotiations for new broadcasting deals and a collective bargaining agreement with players that could include an 18-game season, according to four people familiar with the owners’ views," Maske wrote.

The owners will gather in Atlanta on August 26, 2026. However, the October meeting scheduled to take place in New York might be the time the extension gets signed.

And unlike Jerry Jones' pushback back in 2017, zero owners oppose Goodell’s extension as of today. Goodell will turn 71 by the time a new three-year deal is up.

An insider with direct knowledge called finalizing Goodell's extension "critical," with upcoming labor and television talks raising questions about the NFL's future as it puts several major league decisions back under his leadership.

"We'll see what the future holds. I don't know. We'll see," Roger Goodell had stated previously during his 2023 extension announcement, per Front Office Sports' Mark Maske. "So I'm not making any commitments other than, for the next three years, I'm going to bust my b***."

The $110 billion media agreements signed by the NFL in 2021 have early opting-out options. And taking notes after the NBA and WNBA secured $76 billion in broadcasting contracts in 2024, NFL owners want a similar move of more games behind streaming paywalls like YouTube, Netflix and Amazon.

Even though Roger Goodell is a polarizing figure amongst fans, with incidents like Deflategate and Ray Rice discipline, rising financial values of the franchises remain the team owners' main focus.

The pending $9.612 billion sale of the Seattle Seahawks is a 59% hike from the Washington Commanders' $6.05 billion sale in 2023. However, that's not all the NFL team owners are up to.

The 18-game season battle: Roger Goodell vs. the players' union

Roger Goodell will soon have a huge task on his hands revolving around the regular-season schedule expansion. Goodell and league owners want to increase the regular season to 18 games while reducing preseason to two games.

But the Collective Bargaining Agreement that runs through the 2030 season doesn't make it legally possible for the NFL to make these changes.

The NFL Players Association, led by newly appointed Executive Director JC Tretter, had an interview with Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer where he discussed the demand for an 18- game season.

"No one would volunteer for 18 games, right? Like no player's saying, 'Hey, you know what I'd love to do? Play another one,'" Tretter told Breer.

In case NFL owners don't budge from an 18-game season, Tretter and the union shall push for concessions.

Players will demand a larger piece of the total revenue being generated by the NFL, a transition to natural grass playing surfaces, and a compulsory 2nd bye week during the season.

What do you think of Roger Goodell extending his term as the NFL's Commissioner? Let us know in the comments below.

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Written by

Nisarga Aseem Barkule

Edited by

Soheli Tarafdar