How Roger Goodell Became the N.F.L.s $20 Billion Man

As they met in the lobby of the Omni Viking Lakes Hotel in Minnesota in late August, Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, and Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, greeted each other warmly, sharing fist bumps as a small entourage that included their oldest sons surrounded them.“Boy, you’re looking trim,” Mr.Jones, wearing a light blue jacket with a diamond star pin on his lapel, told Mr.

Kraft, wearing his signature Nike dress sneakers.The two men, who have nine Super Bowl wins between them (six for Mr.

Kraft, 83, and three for Mr.Jones, who turns 82 on Sunday), were upbeat and refreshed after their summer vacations in the South of France and the Hamptons.Soon they were joined in the lobby by other N.F.L.

royalty: the Kansas City Chiefs owner, Clark Hunt; the Pittsburgh Steelers owner, Art Rooney II; and, most significant, Roger Goodell, the league commissioner.There were smiles all around — and for good reason.Over the next three hours, Mr.

Goodell, 65, would preside over yet another decision that would make these already extremely wealthy individuals even richer: The league’s owners voted 31 to 1 to allow teams to sell up to 10 percent of their multibillion-dollar clubs to private equity groups.Afterward, as other owners slipped into their waiting limousines, Mr.Jones, the most ardent proponent of growing the league, said to a gaggle of waiting reporters: “This is good for anybody that’s in love with the N.F.L., any part of it — the game part, on the field, off the field.

This is a good thing.”...