In recent years, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has garnered significant attention during his Super Bowl Week press conferences, prompting the league to implement measures to mitigate this phenomenon. According to Daniel Kaplan for Front Office Sports, Goodell’s annual press briefing is set for Monday, marking the second consecutive year it will be held on that day. Previously, he met with the media on Wednesdays, and even earlier, on Fridays, just before the Super Bowl.
Similar to last year, this year’s press conference will also necessitate an additional media credential for attendance, with last year’s event drawing 125 reporters. Kaplan anticipates that this year’s attendance will mirror those figures. By scheduling the press conference early in the week and being selective about who can attend and ask questions, Goodell aims to avoid becoming the focal point of coverage, a role he has inadvertently adopted in previous years. For instance, during the 2022 and 2023 events, then-NFL.com reporter Jim Trotter pressed Goodell on the league’s commitment to diversity in leadership, leading to a series of stammering and vague responses from the commissioner, who appeared dismissive of Trotter’s concerns (notably, Trotter’s contract was not renewed shortly after the 2023 Super Bowl).
This is what Roger Goodell came up with after having 80 seconds to think through his response to @JimTrotter_NFL‘s question about diversity issues at NFL Media (which Trotter also asked him about last year) pic.twitter.com/EQlbrsI0hg
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 8, 2023
In 2016, Goodell made headlines again when he seemed to equate the risks of sitting on the couch while watching football to playing in the NFL, which trivialized serious concerns regarding CTE and other injuries.
Goodell will certainly have no shortage of topics for discussion on Monday, including the potential addition of an 18th regular-season game, plans for more games to be exclusive to streaming services, compliance with the Rooney Rule, and the expansion of international games. Fortunately for Goodell and the NFL, Trotter retired from journalism earlier this year; however, it’s likely he wouldn’t have been granted a credential anyway.
