MINNEAPOLIS — Roger Goodell walked to the podium, thoroughly prepared to explain that his industry is not dying. He was prepared. He is always prepared. It is one of the maddening things about him. His press conferences are like a Floyd Mayweather fight—you might go in hoping the guy will get pummeled, but you realize after about 30 seconds that it won’t happen.
The NFL dropped two bits of news this week. Well, one was news. The other was a well-timed vow.
The news was that the Fox bought the rights to Thursday Night Football—at a 33% increase, per game, over the last TNF deal, with Fox and CBS.