Robert Kraft and Roger Goodell Talk Shop
June 9, 2009 – 10:15 am by Michael Bean
Two of the most important and powerful men in the National Football League – Robert Kraft, Chairman and owner of the New England Patriots; and Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner. Both were on WEEI in Boston on Monday to talk about the pending labor dispute and the upcoming 2009 NFL season.
Kraft on his ownership style and how it has maybe changed over the years since when he first bought the Patriots:
“We’ve evolved to running this in the same way we’ve evolved running our other businesses – trying to put the customer first, empathizing on issues, and getting good people we’re comfortable with – the same as we do in all our companies. I think when I came here, it’s a real head trip getting to own an NFL franchise in your hometown. We’ve had an All Star coach who won Super Bowls – so I had a little star dust in my eyes and probably didn’t use the same discipline in this business that we implement in our other businesses.”
Kraft’s thoughts on so many of the Patriots former employees going on to new markets taking with them knowledge of how the Kraft family and his operatives do business in New England:
“It is the sick part of the business. Because in any other business, like you said, when you develop expertise in any other business, it’s your proprietary rights and product. You try to leverage it, develop it and build your company. In the NFL, it’s set up to bring everyone to parity all the time so all 32 cities, all 32 fan bases have the chance of going to the Big Game like we saw Arizona [do]…
Actually, if you look at the schedule, the schedule will be the ‘hottest’ schedule that we will have encountered since Belichick has been the coach. I think over half the teams we play were in the playoffs, 13 or 14 of the teams were over .500, and how we draft…probably what you said in terms of personnel leaving to other teams taking with them our philosophy, knowing our product knowledge, knowing how we think – that’s the thing that’s most difficult to me. And you know, we have a philosophy in our group that if we can’t do something for someone and they can do better somewhere else than we can do with them and they’ve been loyal and good, than we support them and do whatever we can to help them grow and prosper. And unfortunately, that is what it is. We play Denver this year, we don’t play Kansas City, we don’t play Cleveland, though we do play Atlanta. So just hopefully, we’ll be a little better than all of them.”
If Kraft thinks about the ‘luck’ factor. In other words, does he think about the fortunes of his team largely being the product of a nondescript 6th round quarterback named Tom Brady evolving into one of the NFL’s greatest QBs ever:
“I think about that a lot, and we have all these gurus – quotation marks – running around. Think about it, [Brady] was the 199th pick, there were 12 quarterbacks taken ahead of him, and think of all the money these teams spent. Look, Matt Cassel was a seventh round pick. He never got his chance; so it’s not an exact science and it’s sort of the reason you want to be careful falling in love with any one player in the age of the salary cap. Although, I tell you, I do fall in love with a lot of them – because they’re great guys. So I can say that on one hand, so yeah, that’s luck, but it’s also the people. Think about it, the guy who really scouted him, Dick Raybine, he passed away the year that Tom really got his chance. And then seeing him evolve and develop, and think of his college coach, the guy who had him there could have played him more. I think about that and those guys at college are ‘gurus’. So in the end, I think, besides just being a tremendous human being that the players and everyone can respond to, I don’t think he really got a chance to shine intellectually and mentally because he didn’t play continuously and enough. And his brillaince is his ability to process so quickly and make correct decisions…”
Kraft on whether he feels comfortable divulging how many years coach Bill Belichick has left on his contract. The subject is a mystery to many:
“Well, I’ll be happy to do that when you tell me who styles your hair so beautifully at your barber shop.”
Goodell on whether it’s true the NFL could potentially hold the Super Bowl in London or in some other international market:
“I don’t know how many times we can deny that that’s under serious consideration, or under any consideration. We just awarded the last Super Bowl to New Orleans and London wasn’t even part of the conisderation so it wasn’t something we even talked about at all.”
Goodell on the recent extension the league has made with the television networks:
“We are the only league that continues to be successful on free television. I think that model’s being challenged because of the advertising market right now. For us to be able to continue on free television with a 2-year extension with both FOX and CBS says something about the quality of our product, the content that we have and that we can remain successful in that environment.”
On Michael Vick:
“I said I would deal with it once he’s done with his legal entanglement and that’s coming up shortly. I certainly will meet with him before I make a final decision. It’s important to hear from these players before you make a determination about their future.”
Listen here to Kraft and Goodell on WEEI in Boston
Tags: Expiration of NFL CBA, New England Patriots, NFL Commissioner, no salary cap in NFL in 2010, Robert Kraft, Roger Goodell, WEEI
