New York
AP
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Paul Tagliabue, who helped deliver labor peace and riches to the NFL throughout his 17 years as commissioner however was criticized for not taking stronger motion on concussions, died Sunday from coronary heart failure at 84 years outdated.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy stated Tagliabue’s household knowledgeable the league of his demise in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Tagliabue, who had developed Parkinson’s illness, was commissioner after Pete Rozelle from 1989 to 2006. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a part of a particular centennial class in 2020. Current Commissioner Roger Goodell succeeded Tagliabue.
“Paul was the ultimate steward of the game — tall in stature, humble in presence and decisive in his loyalty to the NFL,” Goodell stated in a press release. “I am forever grateful and proud to have Paul as my friend and mentor. I cherished the innumerable hours we spent together where he helped shape me as an executive but also as a man, husband and father.”
Tagliabue oversaw a myriad of latest stadiums and negotiated tv contracts that added billions of {dollars} to the league’s checking account. Under him, there have been no labor stoppages.
(*84*) his time, Los Angeles misplaced two groups and Cleveland one other, migrating to Baltimore earlier than being changed by an growth franchise.
Tagliabue carried out a coverage on substance abuse that was thought-about the strongest in all main sports activities. He additionally established the “Rooney Rule,” during which all groups with teaching vacancies should interview minority candidates. It has since been expanded to incorporate front-office and league government positions.
When he took workplace in 1989, the NFL had simply gotten its first Black head coach of the trendy period. By the time Tagliabue stepped down in 2006, there have been seven minority head coaches within the league.
Tagliabue definitely had his detractors, notably over concussions. The problem has plagued the NFL for many years, although crew house owners had a significant position within the lack of progress in coping with head trauma.
In 2017, Tagliabue apologized for remarks he made many years in the past about concussions in soccer, acknowledging he didn’t have the right knowledge at the time in 1994. He referred to as concussions “one of those pack-journalism issues” and contended the variety of concussions “is relatively small; the problem is the journalist issue.”
“Obviously,” he stated on Talk of Fame Network, “I do remorse these remarks. Looking again, it was not smart language to make use of to precise my ideas at the time. My language was intemperate, and it led to critical misunderstanding. I overreacted on points which we had been already engaged on. But that doesn’t excuse the overreaction and intemperate language.
“Bottom line, it sounded like I was shooting the messenger, which was the concussion issue. My intention at the time was to make a point which could have been made fairly simply: that there was a need for better data. There was a need for more reliable information about concussions and uniformity in terms of how they were being defined in terms of severity.”
Tagliabue is survived by his spouse Chandler, son Drew, and daughter Emily.