NEW YORK - Paul Tagliabue has announced that he will be retiring as the commissioner of the NFL after more than 16 fruitful years at the helm of what has turned out to be the richest and the most powerful sports' body in the country. The 65-year-old Tagliabue will bid adieu to NFL in July, but will stay on as a consultant till 2008.
"I really want to emphasize how much of a privilege it is to spend most of your adult life with the NFL. This is not an easy decision for me," Tagliabue said after announcing his decision to vacate the chair. "As difficult as this decision is, I also know it's the right decision. Right for me. Right for the league."
Tagliabue's tenure will be known for the lucrative television deals, a massive jump in team values and new stadiums. His decision to retire comes just 12 days after he was able to convince team bosses to extend the bargaining agreement for another six year. Tagliabue added that he would miss "just the excitement of being involved in something as much a major piece of millions of people's lives as the NFL."
There was no word yet on who his successor would be, but Tagliabue said he had continued to stay on the job till a suitable successor could be found, "The understanding has always been that I would stay on until a successor was ready to be in place," Tagliabue said. "We've been trying to pick a time when we would have all the critical elements of the league in place."
With the labor deal in place, it was understandably the right time for the man who took over from Pete Rozelle nearly 17 years ago in 1989. "I came to the conclusion in the last 10 days that this was the opportune time to undertake those twin responsibilities — moving forward on everything we're doing and being involved with the search process," Tagliabue observed.
"The way we'll approach it is to have a very comprehensive search that will identify (candidates), whether it's (from) our own offices or a team, as well as in other businesses or organizations." Under Tagliabue's immaculate reign there has been labor peace in the NFL after strikes by players in 1982 and 1987.
He was single handedly responsible for negotiating a better deal for the players with the team bosses and it is this legacy that he would be leaving behind. He will also be known for the tough doping with steroids policy, which is one of the strictest in major sports' leagues.
Roger Goodell, who is currently the NFL's chief operating officer and Rich McKay, general manager at Atlanta are considered to be front-runners for Tagliabue's post. Owners will meet in Orlando next week to start the process of finding a successor to Tagliabue, who has been called the NFL's greatest commissioner ever.
