CEO Speaker Series: Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner

How Roger Goodell transformed the NFL from a U.S. sports league into a $25 billion global entertainment powerhouse

Wednesday, April 15

11:45am ET / 3:45pm UTC / 4:45pm GMT

Virtual interview with student Q&A and viewing room
in Snyder Forum. Lunch provided.

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About the Speaker - Roger Goodell

During his two decades as NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell has built the NFL into a sports, media and cultural leader. Working closely with the league’s 32 teams, he has pursued innovative policies and partnerships that strengthen the game, make football more accessible and drive global growth.

Starting as an intern for Commissioner Pete Rozelle in the early 1980s, Goodell has impacted every facet of the NFL. In 2001, he became the league’s first Chief Operating Officer, driving a generation of fan-friendly stadium innovation, expanding the NFL’s international presence and leading a successful realignment process following the addition of the Houston Texans in 2002.

Upon succeeding Commissioner Paul Tagliabue in 2006, Goodell has focused on strengthening the game for players and fans alike. He has prioritized improving player health and safety through new rules and better equipment, driving down concussions and other major injuries.

Under Goodell’s leadership, the NFL has secured consecutive, ten-year transformative collective bargaining agreements with the NFL Players Association, allowing the league to grow and thrive, enhancing pay and benefits for current and retired players and ensuring decades of labor peace.

In 2021, Goodell negotiated long-term media agreements with CBS, ESPN/ABC, FOX, NBC and Amazon, which brought Thursday Night Football to a streaming platform for the first time. He has since spearheaded groundbreaking deals with YouTube for NFL Sunday Ticket and Netflix for the NFL’s Christmas games, reaching a generation of younger fans. Goodell helped bring NFL games to fans around the world through a partnership with DAZN to distribute the NFL’s Game Pass International service. He also oversaw the launch of NFL+, the league’s direct to consumer service, as part of the ongoing evolution of NFL Media. The NFL remains the most accessible professional sport, with nearly 90 percent of games on free television, shattering viewership records year after year.

Goodell has brought regular-season games to an increasing number of countries, supported the rise of flag football globally, and launched a program for NFL teams to grow their year-round presence in markets around the world. He moved the NFL Draft from New York to cities and fans across the country and expanded the season, adding regular-season and playoff games.

As the league’s platform continues to grow, Goodell has embraced players who are using their voices to create change and bolstered the NFL’s support for causes like social justice, cancer prevention, domestic violence awareness and the needs of active military, their families and veterans.

Passion for the game, players and fans has been a hallmark of Goodell’s career. A three-sport team captain at Bronxville (NY) High School, Goodell graduated magna cum laude from Washington and Jefferson College in 1981, determined to land a job with the league. He sent dozens of unsolicited application letters before Rozelle took notice, granting Goodell that first internship. This is Goodell’s 43rd season with the NFL.

Goodell is married to Jane Skinner Goodell, and they are the proud parents of twin daughters. 

About the Moderator - Jon Iwata

Over a 35-year career at IBM, Jon Iwata held multiple leadership roles, including Senior Vice President, Chief Brand Officer, and leader of the company's global marketing, communications and corporate citizenship organization. He reported to three IBM CEOs during two decades of significant transformation. He was chairman of IBM’s corporate strategy committee. According to Interbrand, IBM became the second most valuable brand in the world during Jon’s tenure as Chief Marketing Officer.

Today, at the Yale School of Management he is an Executive Fellow at the Yale Center for Customer Insights, a Lecturer in the Practice of Management, and the Practice Leader of the Program on Stakeholder Innovation and Management.

Jon is Executive Chairman of the Data & Trust Alliance, a not-for-profit organization formed in 2020 by CEOs of leading corporations to develop and adopt responsible data and AI practices. He is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and a director of the Ladies Professional Golf Association. He was appointed a Tech Ethics and Policy Mentor at the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society at Stanford University in 2023.

Jon is an inductee of the B2B Hall of Fame and the Marketing Hall of Fame. He was named a Brand Genius by AdWeek. In 2023 he was awarded the Harold Burson Award, the Larry Foster Award for Integrity in Public Communications by the Page Center at Penn State University, and was named to the 2023 NACD Directorship 100 – the annual list of the most influential people in the boardroom and on corporate governance. He holds a B.A. from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at San Jose State University.

Jon is co-inventor of a U.S. patent for a nanotechnology and process for atomic-scale semiconductors.