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Jets' Woody Johnson reportedly resents Roger Goodell for playing favorites among NFL owners
Dom Cosentino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com By Dom Cosentino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
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on February 01, 2015 at 1:10 PM, updated February 01, 2015 at 1:26 PM
If you haven't yet, you should read Gabriel Sherman's report for GQ on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. It's a fascinating inside look at how Goodell has been focused on making more money for the owners at the expense of everything else—from off-field scandals to the growing anger he's fostering among players to the league's indifference to links between football and head trauma, to cite three notable examples. The consequences of all this, GQ says, "add up to nothing less than an existential threat to the sport itself."
But buried in Sherman's piece is a brief paragraph about the resentment Goodell has fostered among certain owners. Why? Because Goodell tends to play favorites, with Patriots owner Robert Kraft specifically cited as being especially close to him.
And Jets owner Woody Johnson is one of those who doesn't appreciate it. From GQ (emphasis mine):
Bob McNair, who owns the Houston Texans and is a Goodell supporter, told me that when Saints owner Tom Benson resigned from three league committees in 2013, Goodell's pay package and his handling of the Saints' Bountygate scandal were two reasons. "Tom's a green-eyeshade accountant of many years," McNair said. "He's just not happy about what happened." (Through a spokesman, Benson denies this.) It's also an open secret in league circles that some owners, especially Woody Johnson of the Jets, resent the preferential treatment Goodell is perceived to extend to his inner circle. (As the football world waits for the commissioner's decision on whether to punish the Patriots for Deflategate, many are wondering how his relationship with Kraft will affect Goodell's ruling.)
On Saturday in Phoenix, just before he was to receive the inaugural Steinberg DeNicola Humanitarian Award, Johnson was asked about that passage from Sherman's GQ story. His answer was pretty much what one would expect an owner who's made an exponential return on his investment thanks in part to Goodell's stewardship to say on the record.
"I didn't interview for that," Johnson said. "I just think that we've done a lot of good things this year, and we've had some situations arise that we're going to have to work our way through. That's part of our obligation, that when you're as successful as we are in the NFL, we're going to have more attention paid to us, and we're willing to do that. So I think it's going to take time. There will be sunny days to come up."
SUPER BOWL XLIX: Full coverage of Patriots vs. Seahawks
See? The NFL is only experiencing problems because it's so successful! Of course! With that, let's let Sherman have the last word:
Taken together, the nonstop drumbeat of bad news added up to a growing sense that Goodell and his owner bosses are tone-deaf to the issues that plague the NFL--and on the wrong side of history to a rising generation that increasingly sees football as too violent, too regressive, and too money-driven to enjoy without feeling more than a little bit turned off by the whole decadent spectacle.
Eliot Shorr-Parks provided reporting from Phoenix.
Dom Cosentino may be reached at dcosentino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @domcosentino. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.
Dom Cosentino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com By Dom Cosentino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on February 01, 2015 at 1:10 PM, updated February 01, 2015 at 1:26 PM
If you haven't yet, you should read Gabriel Sherman's report for GQ on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. It's a fascinating inside look at how Goodell has been focused on making more money for the owners at the expense of everything else—from off-field scandals to the growing anger he's fostering among players to the league's indifference to links between football and head trauma, to cite three notable examples. The consequences of all this, GQ says, "add up to nothing less than an existential threat to the sport itself."
But buried in Sherman's piece is a brief paragraph about the resentment Goodell has fostered among certain owners. Why? Because Goodell tends to play favorites, with Patriots owner Robert Kraft specifically cited as being especially close to him.
And Jets owner Woody Johnson is one of those who doesn't appreciate it. From GQ (emphasis mine):
Bob McNair, who owns the Houston Texans and is a Goodell supporter, told me that when Saints owner Tom Benson resigned from three league committees in 2013, Goodell's pay package and his handling of the Saints' Bountygate scandal were two reasons. "Tom's a green-eyeshade accountant of many years," McNair said. "He's just not happy about what happened." (Through a spokesman, Benson denies this.) It's also an open secret in league circles that some owners, especially Woody Johnson of the Jets, resent the preferential treatment Goodell is perceived to extend to his inner circle. (As the football world waits for the commissioner's decision on whether to punish the Patriots for Deflategate, many are wondering how his relationship with Kraft will affect Goodell's ruling.)
On Saturday in Phoenix, just before he was to receive the inaugural Steinberg DeNicola Humanitarian Award, Johnson was asked about that passage from Sherman's GQ story. His answer was pretty much what one would expect an owner who's made an exponential return on his investment thanks in part to Goodell's stewardship to say on the record.
"I didn't interview for that," Johnson said. "I just think that we've done a lot of good things this year, and we've had some situations arise that we're going to have to work our way through. That's part of our obligation, that when you're as successful as we are in the NFL, we're going to have more attention paid to us, and we're willing to do that. So I think it's going to take time. There will be sunny days to come up."
SUPER BOWL XLIX: Full coverage of Patriots vs. Seahawks
See? The NFL is only experiencing problems because it's so successful! Of course! With that, let's let Sherman have the last word:
Taken together, the nonstop drumbeat of bad news added up to a growing sense that Goodell and his owner bosses are tone-deaf to the issues that plague the NFL--and on the wrong side of history to a rising generation that increasingly sees football as too violent, too regressive, and too money-driven to enjoy without feeling more than a little bit turned off by the whole decadent spectacle.
Eliot Shorr-Parks provided reporting from Phoenix.
Dom Cosentino may be reached at dcosentino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @domcosentino. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.