Paul Tagliabue, the former NFL commissioner who steered the league to massive financial success and presided over 17 years of labor peace, died Sunday. He was 84.
Tagliabue died in Chevy Chase, Md. from heart failure complicated by Parkinson’s disease, according to ESPN reporter Adam Schefter.
“Paul was the ultimate steward of the game — tall in stature, humble in presence and decisive in his loyalty to the NFL,” Tagliabue’s successor Roger Goodell said in a statement. “He viewed every challenge and opportunity through the lens of what was best for the great good.”
Tagliabue took over for NFL architect Pete Rozelle in 1989. Over the following 17 years, the value of NFL franchises increased exponentially while the league avoided any game-canceling work stoppages.
AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue responds to question at a news conference in 2006. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Tagliabue also expanded the league from 28 to 32 teams, kept the New Orleans Saints in their hometown through Hurricane Katrina and rallied the league after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
“I am forever grateful and proud to have Paul as my friend and mentor,” Goodell said. “I cherished the innumerable hours we spent together where he helped shape me as an executive but also as a man, husband and father.”
Born Nov. 24, 1940 in Jersey City, Tagliabue was the third and tallest of four brothers, eventually growing to 6-foot-5 and playing college basketball at Georgetown University.
His first big job in the NFL was as the league’s outside counsel, when Rozelle forced Jets star Joe Namath to give up his interest in a seedy Manhattan restaurant, Bachelors III in 1969.
Throughout the next two decades, Tagliabue worked hand-in-hand with Rozelle. In 1989, when Rozelle stepped down and the owners had to pick a new commissioner, they decided on Tagliabue after several rounds of voting.
“I’m trying to clean the slate in a lot of ways,” he told the New York Times after taking the job. “A lot of things have been done very well by Pete over the years. But I’m trying to bring in fresh ideas.”
AP
Paul Tagliabue in 2012. (AP)
While Rozelle was known and revered for his heavy hand and casual manner, Tagliabue brought a more corporate energy to an increasingly standardized league. Sports Illustrated wrote that he presided over press conferences with “imperial disdain.”
His tenure coincided with skyrocketing television deals, player contracts and franchise valuations, which have continued under Goodell. In 1989, when Tagliabue took over, the league was valued at $975 million. When he left in 2006, it was worth $5.7 billion.
Tagliabue was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020. He is survived by his wife, Chandler, and their children Drew and Emily.
