About a half hour before the scheduled kickoff of the NFL’s season-opening game, a black luxury SUV rolled into the bowels of Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
The league’s commissioner stepped out, looking good. Those 5 a.m. workouts appear to be paying off.
“It’s always a battle,” Roger Goodell said Thursday, smiling.
It was quite a stir that Goodell’s league headquarters generated around these parts with the simple hanging of a poster or 50 around downtown Denver and at the Broncos’ stadium. There were posters of Peyton Manning. No problem there. And there were just as many posters of visiting Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco. You know, the guy who sent Broncos fans into a month of depression and seven more months of bitter disappointment. Does the NFL always hang posters of visiting players on the home stadium for its Kickoff Game?
“Not necessarily on all the stadiums,” Goodell said. “The signage changes from year to year. I’m not an expert on that. But I understand the passion of the fans.”
The commissioner of America’s No. 1 sports league doesn’t often deal with lighthearted topics. Even posters have become no laughing matter in the Denver area.
More serious has been the Broncos’ numerous off-the-field transgressions. In the past three months, top-level Denver football executives Matt Russell and Tom Heckert were arrested on drunken-driving charges, and two players, Von Miller and Julius Thomas, recently were arrested for failing to appear in court on traffic violations.
“We’re always concerned when we have acts that are not consistent with what our brand is,” Goodell said. “I know the Broncos don’t like that, we don’t like that. But if you look overall around the league, we’re making progress on that. But one is too many.”
Before Goodell was whisked up to a suite, he was asked about the transgressions involving Miller, the Denver outside linebacker who is serving a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s drug policy.
“People have to follow the rules,” Goodell said. “I’m not directly involved in that. I don’t have all the details, but if you commit violations of our policy, there will be consequences.”
