Posted but not written by Louis Sheehan
N.F.L.
Commissioner Roger Goodell was paid $44.2 million in 2012, making him
among the best-paid executives in the country and perhaps the
highest-paid leader of a nonprofit organization.
The amount of Goodell’s compensation increased about 50 percent from 2011, largely because of a bonus and pension payment of
$9.1 million that he deferred two years ago after a labor dispute between the league and its players. The deferral ensured that other league employees were paid in full.
$9.1 million that he deferred two years ago after a labor dispute between the league and its players. The deferral ensured that other league employees were paid in full.
While
Goodell’s pay is a sliver of the roughly $10 billion that the league
generates annually, it exceeds the amount paid at far larger businesses
and highlights the tax-exempt status that the league’s head office —
though not its teams — has had for decades.
In
1966, when the N.F.L. agreed to merge with the American Football
League, Congress gave the N.F.L. certain antitrust exemptions and
confirmed that the league’s office was entitled to the same benefits as
business trade groups and chambers of commerce not organized for profit.
The N.H.L., the L.P.G.A. and other sports groups have similar status.
But
even some of the largest nonprofit trade groups paid their executives
far less. The chief executive of the American Petroleum Institute, for
instance, was paid $5.6 million, according to the latest government
filings.
Goodell’s
pay was large when stacked against executives’ pay at for-profit
businesses, too. According to Equilar, a compensation research company,
the median salary for chief executives at companies listed on the
Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was
$9.7 million, less than one-quarter of what Goodell was paid in 2012.
$9.7 million, less than one-quarter of what Goodell was paid in 2012.
Michael
T. Duke, the chief executive of Walmart, the nation’s largest private
employer with sales of about $470 billion, was paid $20 million.
Lawrence J. Ellison, the chief executive of Oracle, was the highest-paid executive at a public company, having received $96.2 million in 2012.
Goodell’s
pay, which was first reported by Sports Business Journal on Friday and
will be disclosed in the N.F.L.’s annual filing with the Internal
Revenue Service on Tuesday, reflects the league’s continued growth.
Lucrative broadcast deals, concessions won from the players in the most
recent collective bargaining agreement and an increased presence
overseas have helped push the league’s annual revenue higher.
Goodell
has also helped steer the league through a legal minefield. In August,
the N.F.L. agreed to pay $765 million to settle lawsuits brought by
about 5,000 retired players who accused the league of hiding the dangers
of concussions. Some analysts believe the deal could have been for far
more.
Perhaps
most important to the league’s owners, 23 of the 32 franchises are
worth more than $1 billion, and every club is profitable, according to
Forbes.
“As
we have previously discussed with all owners, Commissioner Goodell’s
compensation reflects our pay-for-performance philosophy and is
appropriate given the fact that the N.F.L. under his consistently strong
leadership continues to grow and is by far the most successful sports
league,” the N.F.L.’s compensation committee wrote in a memo to all
owners.
Robert
K. Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots and a member of the
compensation committee, added: “It’s competitive with what is happening
in major American corporations. Given the complexity of his job and
reach of it, I think he’s worth it.”
The
N.F.L.’s filing next week will also show that Jeff Pash, the league’s
general counsel, was paid $7.86 million in 2012, while Steve Bornstein,
the league’s outgoing executive vice president for media, was paid $26.1
million.
Without
his one-time deferred bonus and pension payment from 2011, Goodell’s
compensation was $35.1 million in 2012, about as much compensation as
Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, received, said
Marc Ganis, a consultant to several N.F.L. teams who is familiar with
the compensation figures.
“They
believe the N.F.L. is the best-run league and has the brightest future,
so they rewarded him based on his results,” Ganis said of Goodell,
adding, “These numbers put Roger in the same ballpark as Bud.”
Selig
made $17.5 million in 2006, the last year for which public filings are
available. M.L.B. has given up its nonprofit status, and a spokesman for
the league declined to comment on Selig’s current compensation.
The N.B.A. is not a nonprofit organization, so it does not have public filings. News media outlets have speculated that David Stern, who recently retired as commissioner, was paid as much as $23 million.
Gary
Bettman, the N.H.L. commissioner, made $8.3 million in the fiscal year
that ended in June 2012. Michael Whan, the commissioner of the L.P.G.A.,
received $636,000 in 2011.
Jeremy Spector, outside counsel to the N.F.L., wrote in U.S. News and World Report in November that the league paid taxes on every dollar of income it earned.
“Claims
that the N.F.L. is using a tax exemption to avoid paying the tax due on
these revenues are simply misinformed,” he wrote. “The confusion arises
from the fact that there is one small part of the N.F.L., unrelated to
all this business activity, that is tax-exempt: the N.F.L. league
office.”
The
league office, he said, acts no differently than a trade association
that promotes its member companies, and has never claimed to be a
charity.
Bill
Daly, the deputy commissioner of the N.H.L., said his league had
nonprofit status because it acts on behalf of its clubs. N.H.L.
Enterprises, the merchandising and licensing arm of the league, is a
taxable business entity.
The L.P.G.A. had no comment.
Nonprofit
status is typically given to groups that deliver services that
private-sector companies are unwilling or unable to provide, said Ken
Berger, the president and chief executive of Charity Navigator, the
nation’s largest charity evaluator. The N.F.L. stretches that
definition, he said.
“The
idea that a person becomes a multimillionaire running a nonprofit that
is supposed to provide a service that can’t be provided by the market is
absurd,” Berger said. “The notion that every taxpayer is subsidizing an
organization whose leader is making
$30 million or more is a waste.”
$30 million or more is a waste.”
A
committee that includes several N.F.L. owners — among them Kraft,
Arthur Blank of the Atlanta Falcons and Jerry Richardson of the Carolina
Panthers — sets Goodell’s compensation, which included just $3.5
million in salary.
Most
of his compensation comes from the annual dues that each team pays to
cover the league’s operating expenses, including salaries. Some of it
also comes from N.F.L. Ventures, a for-profit subsidiary that handles
the league’s marketing, media and other businesses.
In 2012, the owners extended Goodell’s contract through the end of the 2018 season.
“We
look at the numbers and go crazy, but we need to ask ourselves, How
many people are there who can do this job, and what is the going rate?”
said Rodney Fort, a sports economist at the University of Michigan.
“People don’t go to watch owners own; they go to watch players play. But
that doesn’t mean that what a commissioner does isn’t more valuable,
given all the zeros he produces.”
Correction: February 14, 2014
An earlier version of this article and its headline misstated the year in which Roger Goodell was paid $44.2 million. It was in 2012, not 2013.
An earlier version of this article and its headline misstated the year in which Roger Goodell was paid $44.2 million. It was in 2012, not 2013.
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