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Commissioner of the NFL
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Commissioner of the NFL
The commissioner of the National Football League is the chief executive officer of the National Football League (NFL). The position was created in 1941. The current commissioner is Roger Goodell, who assumed office on September 1, 2006. As of November 2025, he is the only living NFL commissioner.
Until 1941, the NFL's chief executive was the league president. On January 17, 1941, the NFL franchise owners amended the league's constitution to change the chief executive's title from "president" to "commissioner".
In 1920, the Canton Bulldogs were one of 14 teams to form the American Professional Football Association (APFA), which would become the National Football League (NFL) two years later. Bulldogs owner Ralph Hay was named the first head of the league (the title was officially "Temporary Secretary" until a permanent president could be chosen).
Hay did make one notable contribution in his short tenure as Temporary Secretary. Vernon Maginnis, who operated one of Akron's professional teams in 1919, wanted to field a team under the name of the Massillon Tigers in 1920. Hay was unimpressed with Maginnis, as the team he had led in 1919 was not a success and Hay did not believe that a traveling team was deserving of the Massillon Tigers name. Hay sought another investor for the Tigers, but because the Tigers of the 1910s had been operating at major financial losses (Hay's primary reason for seeking a credible Tigers team was that Tigers games were major financial successes—for their opponents) and most of its players had defected to start the Cleveland Tigers, potential owners such as F.J. Griffiths and Cupid Black either balked at or ignored overtures to run the Tigers in 1920. With no credible owner stepping forward, Hay claimed the Massillon Tigers as his own, immediately announced it would not play in 1920, and prohibited all teams in the league from playing "any other Massillon Tigers team" such as Maginnis's. The Tigers, while technically listed as a charter member of the league, never played in it, and became the first team to be rejected as a member.
Hay chose his own running back, Jim Thorpe, as the league's inaugural President; Hay believed Thorpe's status and fame as an athlete would bring instant credibility to the league. Thorpe was nominally the APFA's first president; however, he spent most of the year playing for Canton.
Thorpe nominally oversaw what was in its first year a haphazard and somewhat informal league, not unlike the loose coalitions of squads such as the Ohio League, Western Pennsylvania League and New York League that had played prior to the APFA's formation. League teams regularly played those outside the league, and Thorpe allowed those games to be counted in the standings. As a result, there is some dispute whether a handful of teams, including the Chicago Tigers and Buffalo All-Americans, ever actually joined the league at all. His greatest personal achievement as league president was bringing his Bulldogs to New York City for a game against the All-Americans; this game, in which the All-Americans won 7–3, was played in front of approximately 20,000 fans at the Polo Grounds, a rousing success for the nascent league.
By the April 1921 league meetings, the question of who had actually won the league championship (and thus the rights to the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup) was still unresolved, as three teams (possibly four) laid claim to the title; there were even questions as to whether the league would survive beyond its first season, as the meeting had been postponed three months. Thorpe was missing from that meeting, never to return to his post, as was vice-president Stan Cofall, leaving secretary Art Ranney to preside over the meeting (and future league president Carl Storck as secretary).
At the same meeting where this dispute was resolved in favor of Ranney's own Akron Pros, Joseph Carr, owner of the Columbus Panhandles, was named league president. Carr moved the Association's headquarters to Columbus, drafted a league constitution and by-laws, gave teams territorial rights, developed membership criteria for the franchises, and issued formal standings for the first time, so that the APFA would have a clear champion. The Association's membership increased to 22 teams. Carr first set a deadline for the season to be completed and a minimum number of league games to be played in order to win the league championship. This led to standardized schedules and prevented teams from scheduling non-league teams to pad their win columns.
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Commissioner of the NFL
The commissioner of the National Football League is the chief executive officer of the National Football League (NFL). The position was created in 1941. The current commissioner is Roger Goodell, who assumed office on September 1, 2006. As of November 2025, he is the only living NFL commissioner.
Until 1941, the NFL's chief executive was the league president. On January 17, 1941, the NFL franchise owners amended the league's constitution to change the chief executive's title from "president" to "commissioner".
In 1920, the Canton Bulldogs were one of 14 teams to form the American Professional Football Association (APFA), which would become the National Football League (NFL) two years later. Bulldogs owner Ralph Hay was named the first head of the league (the title was officially "Temporary Secretary" until a permanent president could be chosen).
Hay did make one notable contribution in his short tenure as Temporary Secretary. Vernon Maginnis, who operated one of Akron's professional teams in 1919, wanted to field a team under the name of the Massillon Tigers in 1920. Hay was unimpressed with Maginnis, as the team he had led in 1919 was not a success and Hay did not believe that a traveling team was deserving of the Massillon Tigers name. Hay sought another investor for the Tigers, but because the Tigers of the 1910s had been operating at major financial losses (Hay's primary reason for seeking a credible Tigers team was that Tigers games were major financial successes—for their opponents) and most of its players had defected to start the Cleveland Tigers, potential owners such as F.J. Griffiths and Cupid Black either balked at or ignored overtures to run the Tigers in 1920. With no credible owner stepping forward, Hay claimed the Massillon Tigers as his own, immediately announced it would not play in 1920, and prohibited all teams in the league from playing "any other Massillon Tigers team" such as Maginnis's. The Tigers, while technically listed as a charter member of the league, never played in it, and became the first team to be rejected as a member.
Hay chose his own running back, Jim Thorpe, as the league's inaugural President; Hay believed Thorpe's status and fame as an athlete would bring instant credibility to the league. Thorpe was nominally the APFA's first president; however, he spent most of the year playing for Canton.
Thorpe nominally oversaw what was in its first year a haphazard and somewhat informal league, not unlike the loose coalitions of squads such as the Ohio League, Western Pennsylvania League and New York League that had played prior to the APFA's formation. League teams regularly played those outside the league, and Thorpe allowed those games to be counted in the standings. As a result, there is some dispute whether a handful of teams, including the Chicago Tigers and Buffalo All-Americans, ever actually joined the league at all. His greatest personal achievement as league president was bringing his Bulldogs to New York City for a game against the All-Americans; this game, in which the All-Americans won 7–3, was played in front of approximately 20,000 fans at the Polo Grounds, a rousing success for the nascent league.
By the April 1921 league meetings, the question of who had actually won the league championship (and thus the rights to the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup) was still unresolved, as three teams (possibly four) laid claim to the title; there were even questions as to whether the league would survive beyond its first season, as the meeting had been postponed three months. Thorpe was missing from that meeting, never to return to his post, as was vice-president Stan Cofall, leaving secretary Art Ranney to preside over the meeting (and future league president Carl Storck as secretary).
At the same meeting where this dispute was resolved in favor of Ranney's own Akron Pros, Joseph Carr, owner of the Columbus Panhandles, was named league president. Carr moved the Association's headquarters to Columbus, drafted a league constitution and by-laws, gave teams territorial rights, developed membership criteria for the franchises, and issued formal standings for the first time, so that the APFA would have a clear champion. The Association's membership increased to 22 teams. Carr first set a deadline for the season to be completed and a minimum number of league games to be played in order to win the league championship. This led to standardized schedules and prevented teams from scheduling non-league teams to pad their win columns.
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