Coughlin's response to Mara is all we needed to see to answer that question. Goodell is too incompetent to really be the driving force behind the league. That falls more to Mara, and to a lesser extent Kraft and Rooney.
I don't think Goodell is dumb, but he thinks he's smarter than he is and he thinks the NFL is more powerful that it really is. And from my experience, that can be far worse than being dumb and knowing that you're not that bright.
So, he tries to be the face of the NFL instead of delegating authority and the league office is really the '
good ole boys network.' Guys like Dean Blandino have no business being in the position they are in, but that's the landscape of the league's office.
He reminds me of the big banks that thought they were so smart and that there was no way that the housing market would collapse. Well, it did and they lost billions and greatly hurt the world's economy. Now, nobody trusts the banks and I think the image of banks will never recover.
It's a dirty little secret, but attendance should be an alarming issue for the league. The price to pay for tickets is a real problem when you can watch it at home on a 72" screen in HD with surround sound stereo on your plush couch or recliner. That's why Jerry built the videoboard...he specifically cited these specific issues...and he was right.
Combine that with the publicity that CTE is getting along with a flagship franchise proven to be cheaters, badly incompetent referees and a style of game that is getting away from what drew people in as fans (controlled violence)....it's not helping matters any.
But, Roger the Rube will continue to go on and just create more bad publicity for the league and continue to make terrible decisions and think that the league will never falter in popularity. They said the same thing about MLB and Boxing which were more popular than football, not that long ago...and look where they are today.
YR
