Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue Dies at 84
NEW YORK – Paul Tagliabue, who served as NFL commissioner for 17 years and oversaw a period of unprecedented growth and labour peace for the league, has died at the age of 84. His passing was announced today, prompting tributes from across the NFL and beyond.
Tagliabue took the helm in 1989, succeeding Pete Rozelle, and guided the league through a transformative era. He is widely remembered for his decisive leadership in the wake of the September 11th attacks, immediately canceling NFL games that weekend – a move that set the precedent for other sports leagues. “I was convinced that there was no real historical analogue for the [Sept. 11] attacks,” Tagliabue wrote in his 2017 memoir, “Jersey City to America’s Game.” “…on a conference call Wednesday with our working group of owners, I told them that ’This is not the Kennedy assassination.This is not Pearl Harbor. It’s worse.’ I knew that I coudl not support playing any games on that weekend.”
Beyond crisis management, Tagliabue fostered a collaborative relationship with the NFL Players Association, a stark contrast to the contentious dynamic of the 1980s. He credited working with union executive director Gene Upshaw and the guidance of pittsburgh steelers owner Dan Rooney – who advised him to avoid prioritizing any single owner’s perspective – for achieving this.Under his leadership, the league experienced no labor stoppages and implemented foundational changes including free agency and a salary cap. ”The system put every team on a roughly equal footing in the football competition, and it took a great player and a great owner,” tagliabue said, emphasizing the importance of compromise. “It took a Gene Upshaw and a Dan Rooney to reach that kind of a compromise and that kind of a solution to a complicated problem.”
Tagliabue also oversaw meaningful growth in television revenue and ensured the new Orleans Saints returned to their city after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Though,he later identified one significant regret during his tenure: allowing the Los Angeles Rams and Raiders to relocate after the 1994 season. The Rams eventually returned to Los Angeles from St. Louis in 2016, followed by the Chargers in 2017 after their move from San Diego.
After retiring in 2006, Tagliabue continued to serve the NFL, notably being appointed by then-commissioner Roger Goodell in 2012 to review the suspensions stemming from the Saints’ “Bountygate” scandal. He ultimately overturned those suspensions, citing concerns that the case had been “contaminated by the coaches and others in the Saints association.”
Prior to his career in sports governance, Tagliabue was a lawyer and a basketball player at Georgetown University, where he later served as chairman of the board of directors from 2009 to 2015.
He is survived by his wife, Chandler, son Drew, and daughter Emily.
