Roger Goodell’s contract to serve as commissioner of the National Football League has been extended through the 2018 season by the league’s 32 teams.
Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons and chairman of the NFL compensation committee, announced the move on Wednesday, which was approved unanimously at an owners’ meeting in Dallas on December 14.
“I speak on behalf of 32 NFL club owners in saying we are fortunate to have Roger Goodell as our commissioner,” Blank said. “Since becoming commissioner in 2006, the NFL – already the leader in professional sports – has gotten even stronger.
“As evidenced by this contract extension, we have great confidence in Roger’s vision and leadership of the NFL. Our clubs, players and fans could not ask for a better chief executive officer.”
Goodell, 52, led the owners through a contract dispute with players last year that resulted in a four-and-a-half-month off-season lockout, but a 10-year deal was signed with the NFL Players Association last July.
Only one exhibition game was lost when there was concern more games might be wiped out as owners and players tried to divide more than $US9 billion ($A8.6 billion) in annual revenues.
The contract is the third of Goodell’s tenure. His original five-year deal from 2006, when he replaced Paul Tagliabue as commissioner, was extended in 2009 and his term now runs to March 31, 2019.
No salary terms were revealed by the league, which paid Goodell about $US10 million in his past deal.
Goodell worked 24 years in the NFL before being named commissioner, first being hired as an intern in 1982.
NFL telecasts have reached record US viewership numbers on Goodell’s watch, including 23 of the current season’s 25 top-rated shows, a sign there was no harm to America’s most popular sports league from the money dispute despite ongoing US economic woes.
The league has nine-year television deals with NBC, CBS and FOX, a record span for NFL US TV deals.