Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue dies at 84

November 10, 2025Uncategorized

Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who guided the league to new heights of financial prosperity during his 17-year run yet drew heavy scrutiny for his handling of the league’s concussion crisis, died Sunday in Chevy Chase, Maryland, his family announced. He was 84.

Tagliabue’s apparent cause of death was heart failure complicated by Parkinson’s disease, which he was diagnosed with approximately seven years ago.

Tagliabue served as NFL Commissioner from 1989-2006, taking over for Pete Rozelle. During that span, he helped the league navigate several crises, including the decision to postpone games after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the fallout from Hurricane Katrina. His ability to maintain broker labor peace and avoid any work stoppages has been widely credited as a major factor in the league’s financial boom during his tenure.

Yet several of Tagliabue’s remarks and decisions regarding concussions and head injuries clouded his time. In 2017, he apologized for his 1994 comment that “is relatively small; the problem is the journalist issue.”

“There were some things that we did which probably should have been done much quicker,” Tagliabue told USA TODAY Sports in 2021. “But in the longer run, what’s happened in the last 20 years suggests it might not have made that much difference. Put it another way: For the most part, I think we did the things at the time that could have made the most difference.”

After retiring, Tagliabue was succeeded by current NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Tagliabue was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020 as part of the centennial class.

“All of us in the NFL are deeply saddened by the passing of Paul Tagliabue, whose principled leadership and vision put the NFL on the path to unparalleled success,” Goodell said in a statement. “Throughout his decades-long leadership on behalf of the NFL, first as outside counsel and then during a powerful 17-year tenure as commissioner, Paul served with integrity, passion and an unwavering conviction to do what was best for the league.

“Paul was the ultimate steward of the game—tall in stature, humble in presence and decisive in his loyalty to the NFL. He viewed every challenge and opportunity through the lens of what was best for the greater good, a principle he inherited from Pete Rozelle and passed on to me.”

Read more at usatoday.com

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Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue dies at 84

November 10, 2025Uncategorized

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.

Paul Tagliabue.
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.”

Paul Tagliabue
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.

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