WHEN: Today, Friday, September 6, 2024
WHERE: CNBC’s “Squawk Box”
Following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC interview with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” (M-F, 6AM-9AM ET) today, Friday, September 6. This interview is also part of CNBC Sport, a new vertical the company announced last week that focuses on the intersection between business and sports. Following is a link to video on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/09/06/nfl-commissioner-roger-goodell-on-global-expansion-streaming-push-and-pe-investments-in-teams.html.
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
BECKY QUICK: And joining us live right now from Brazil is the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Roger, good morning and thank you for being with us. This is a huge game tonight. A lot of people are going to be watching this. And you’ve got two huge issues that you’re kind of wrapping into one here. One would be the international expansion of the NFL. The other is what you’re doing with streaming. And we could talk about both those things. But why don’t we start with the international market and expansion there first. You look at the United States where football is king, 330 million people. The globe though has eight billion people. How do you get out and really make sure that you take NFL football everywhere?
ROGER GOODELL: Well good morning Becky. It’s great to be with you. The reality is the media platforms are essential in that process. We obviously want to reach the most number of people we can through our media partners because that’s how they mostly experience football. But the reality is when we bring our NFL regular season games here, it just creates a whole new environment. It creates a really the spark that lights the flame and everything seems to really take off after that point in time. And we have 38 million fans here already. We hope this will really ignite this market and really become passionate football fans. And we’re obviously continuing our games in Europe. We’re continuing games in the U.K. as we’re going to Spain next year. We’ll be in Germany this year. Hopefully back to Mexico next year. So we really believe playing the games is a big part of making our game global.
QUICK: And that is huge. And I’ve read so many stories and seen so many things about people on the streets in Brazil really being excited about this and getting out. But I also think about some of the cultural missteps that we — we sometimes make. And I go back to thinking about when they made the car Nova and they tried selling it in Mexico. That’s Nova means no go in Mexico.
GOODELL: Right.
QUICK: You guys took over a Brazilian soccer club the Corinthians. You took over their stadium and they hate the color green so much they almost painted the grass green a decade ago. They really hate green there. And you’re bringing two teams that both have green uniforms there. The Packers and the Eagles. How did that happen and how do you make up for it?
GOODELL: Well, you try to pick the two best teams. And I think we have we have two historic franchises. Yes they wear green. But I think we’ve gotten over all of that. Everybody here understands. I think you’ll see the uniforms tonight. They won’t be insulting anyone. So that’s not an issue for us.
QUICK: Yeah, I know the Eagles are going to be wearing black and white. But you also have the Packers who gave the Corinthians goalie a green — a green jersey to wear out to. It just — there’s a lot to learn as you go international. What have been the best things you’ve learned and what are the things that you really want to push into in the next years with those?
GOODELL: Well, I think the best thing is that people love the game when they have the opportunity to experience it. And it’s more than a game, as you know. When you go to an NFL game, there are events around the game that really make it a special day. And we like to unite people. We like to bring people together, and obviously the people down here have that kind of passion, that kind of enthusiasm. So I think they’ll see a different kind of experience with NFL football, and that’s what we’re anticipating. And that’s why I think so many people are excited about being there tonight. And obviously we’re going to have great media coverage all the way through South America and all the way around the globe, all the way back to our home on NBC and Peacock.
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Hey Roger, how do you think internationally about time zones? You’re actually in a decent time zone for players who are in the U.S., obviously, to get down there. But when you think about going to Europe, when you think about going to Asia, obviously the schedules are better, for example, than the NBA or some other leagues that have more games, more frequently, where the time difference will become a problem. How far can you go, and how frequently do you think you can really do it long term?
GOODELL: Well, you know, we can’t change the time zones. But, you know, I would say that we learn from every experience. And I think the trip down here, talking to players on both teams yesterday, the trip down here being 11 hours — 11 hours plus for both teams. You know, they really didn’t have the same impact, and they think it’s really the time zone. So that’s a big factor for the guys. And you know, we play once a week, so that helps, right? We can adjust. When they get back to their home cities tomorrow, they’ll be on a similar time zone, and they’ll also have eight days before their next game. So this is all a part of the learning about how many games can we play. The ownership has been great. They have really endorsed already playing eight regular season games. We hope to be close to that next year. And I see a commitment to go further than that if we get to a season of 18-2. I think that’s something that the ownership will very much endorse.
QUICK: You all have been slower to adopt some of the things that other leagues, maybe smaller leagues rushed into a little more quickly. And part of that has to be streaming. You have always been very concerned to make sure that everybody can see the programs wherever they are. But it seems like it’s working out pretty well with streaming with Peacock and other places. What have you learned through that process, and what can we expect in the next few years?
GOODELL: Well, Becky, the bottom line is you have to go where your fans are, and our fans are moving off onto streaming platforms. Netflix is a good example of that. Peacock is a good example of that. Amazon is a good example of that. Our fans are on different platforms, and we need to reach them. But at the same time, over 85 percent of our games are still available on free television. We think we have the most fan-friendly policies for our fans and the media world of any league by far. 100 percent of our games for the two teams participating. So we really think that those policies are really beneficial to our growth, to our supporting more people watching NFL football and the fans’ enjoyment of it. But streaming also brings in technologies that I think are going to be really valuable to improve the experience for consumers. I think, you know, there’s more things that they can do with their platforms and technology that I think is going to be very, very positive with our fans.
SORKIN: Hey, Roger, I wanted to talk about the implications of private equity minority ownerships in teams. How do you think that may change things over time? I wonder whether if we look back 30 years from now, there’s going to be a lot more selling of some of these teams, you know, after 10 or 12 years, whether, you know, families that own them generationally are now going to either feel pressure or other things to exit, whether there’d be different types of decision-making that will result as a function of having these outside investors?
GOODELL: Andrew, I think it’s actually the exact opposite. When we started this, one, we wanted to learn from other leagues. Good example of we took our time, we were deliberate. Second, we wanted to make sure this worked for all teams and it supported our ownership policies, which we think have had a major role in the NFL achieving the success that it has. We have one person on each team. That person is going to be making all the decisions. This won’t change that. The 10 percent private equity interest will have a very silent role. There’s no role of management. They don’t even take suggestions from unless, you know, the team wants to say, can you help us with X or Y? So I think the reality here, this is going to support our family ownership programs throughout the league. It will give them a chance to get some liquidity, which they can use to invest back in their team, their facilities, however they see fit. So I really believe it’s going to strengthen our position, Andrew. And as you know, this is limited to 10 percent. So it really isn’t going to have an impact on that at all.
QUICK: Roger, you mentioned that you were taking things slowly with that, watching how other leagues did with it. And I think that’s kind of been the general NFL approach to so many things. Also, slow to kind of embrace gambling and some of the things that have come along with that. What have you learned along the way? What have you seen as you’ve kind of slowly seen more and more gambling tied into this, what it means for fan awareness, and what your potential concerns could be?
GOODELL: Well, Becky, the first concern is the one we always start with, which is the integrity of the game. So how do we protect the game so people watching realize that they’re watching real action, no influences from the outside and that’s critical for us. And so we spend a lot of time educating all of our personnel, from players to coaches to league office employees, about the dangers of that and how to make sure we keep our game safe from that. On the positive side, it’s another way for fans to interact with the game. Gambling went on for a long time before the Supreme Court reversed the ruling. Obviously, now that’s spreading from state to state. We have taken a very cautious approach. There are still fans who don’t want to interfere with their experience on television. And we want to make sure that we are sensitive to that. And so it’s really a balance, but giving fans an opportunity, if they so choose, to use one of those platforms to enjoy their experience even more.
QUICK: And have you seen any problems? Or do you feel like you have the proper safeguards in place and there aren’t any problems?
GOODELL: Well, we’ve had discipline from about roughly 25 between players and front office people and the league office, where simply they were involved or betting on – or even betting in the wrong location. So fortunately, nothing serious, nothing that would impact in any way in the game. But our education efforts, I think, are taking hold. But we’re always very sensitive. Our partners who we’re in this business with are very sensitive. So we have a lot more data. We follow that closely. And we take it very seriously. We have been out front about discipline on teams or players or any other personnel that are involved in gambling. We deal with it quickly and forcefully.
QUICK: How do you think this Packers-Eagles game is shaping up tonight? Where are you going to be sitting?
GOODELL: I’ll be up in the game and watching down a little bit on the field in a couple of different areas just to get the feel for it. We’re so – this market is just as passionate as it can be about sports in general. We have 38 million fans here in this market. It’s a huge fan base. And we think this game is going to just light the fire. It’s going to be tremendous for our international growth. I think it will be a turning point for all of our efforts in making our game global. So we’re pretty excited about tonight. And I know our fans back in the States will be thrilled to be watching on Peacock.
QUICK: Seven games internationally next year, that’s the plan?
GOODELL: I think at least seven is where we focus right now. We are definitely coming back to Spain or going to Spain for the first time. We’ll be back in Germany. We’ll be back in the U.K. We hope to be back in Mexico. And we certainly intend to be back here in Brazil.
QUICK: Ok, Roger, thank you very much. Good luck tonight. We’ll be watching.
GOODELL: Thank you, Becky and everyone. Appreciate it.
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