NFL's 100 Most Influential Business People
100. Peter Gent, author and player
99. Greg Carey, financier
98. Fred Gaudelli, football producer
97. Carmen Policy, team executive
96. Wayne Weaver, owner
95. Rich McKay, competition committee chair
94. Chris Seeger, lawyer
93. Howard Katz, NFL executive
92. Phil Knight, sneaker giant
91. Jim Steeg, NFL executive
90. Tony Ponturo, advertising
89. Bennet Omalu, doctor
88. Deion Sanders, player
87. Clark Hunt, owner
86. Joe Browne, spokesman
85. Jim Kensil, NFL executive
84. Steve Gleason, player
83. Jack Donlan, NFL labor negotiator
82. Jeff Pash, NFL executive
81. Brian Rolapp, NFL executive
80. Amy Trask, executive and author
79. Tom Condon, agent
78. Richard Berthelsen, union executive
77. Ralph Wilson, owner
76. John Mackey, player/labor leader
75. Bill Winkenbach, fantasy football creator
74. Dave Boss, NFL executive
73. Howard Slusher, agent
72. Kevin Turner, player/plaintiff
71. Eddie DeBartolo, owner
70. John Mara, owner
69. Mean Joe Greene, player and pitchman for Coke
68. Chris Berman, announcer
67. Paul Allen, owner
66. Robert Irsay, owner
65. Tom Brady, player/litigant
64. Paul Brown, owner/coach
63. DeMaurice Smith, union leader
62. Tom Benson, owner
61. Jimmy the Greek (James Snyder), TV commentator
60. Dan Marino, player and pitchman
59. David Hill, TV executive
58. Val Pinchbeck, scheduler
57. Jack Dorsey, tech titan
56. Bob McNair, owner
55. Pat Summerall, player/announcer
54. Creighton Miller, labor leader
53. Stan Kroenke, owner
52 Jim Thorpe, player
51. George Preston Marshall, owner
50. Sonny Werblin, owner
49. Sean McManus, TV executive
48. Bud Adams, owner
47. Dan Rooney, owner
46. Marvin Demoff, agent
45. Howard Cosell, commentator
44. Steve Jobs, tech titan
43. David Doty, judge
42. Ed Garvey, union leader
41. Anita Brody, judge
40. Leigh Steinberg, agent
39. Warren Moon, player
38. Stan Honey, inventor
37. Jim Brown, player/actor
36. Anne McKee, brain doctor
35. Joseph Carr, NFL president
From 1921-1933, Carr created the first league rules for the NFL, including the ban on college players and the first use of the National Football League name as the number of teams expanded out of a Midwestern base. Under his tenure, the Halas, Mara and Rooney families came in as owners.
34. Colin Kaepernick, player/activist
33. Bert Bell, NFL commissioner
He ran the league from 1945 until his death in 1959. He deployed an aggressive anti-gambling policy, oversaw a merger with the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). As TV emerged, he altered the game’s rules to appeal to mass media.
32. Tex Schramm, team president
As president and GM of the Cowboys, he was the driving force behind the start of America’s Team, the Cowboys cheerleaders, the construction of the Cowboys stadium in Irving. He was the brains behind the success of the Cowboys brand, and also the first president of the World League in 1989, later renamed NFL Europe.
31. Wellington Mara, owner
Mara during his Giants ownership from 1959 to his death in 2005 largely focused on football. He is here for one reason: agreeing in the 1960s to pool TV money with smaller market teams and forego the Giants’ own TV deal. That agreement from the big market Giants helped pave the way for the mega-riches to follow. Had he refused, the history of the NFL very well could have looked more like other leagues.
30a. George Halas, founder
Halas, the founder of the Chicago Bears, was one of the co-founders of the NFL in 1920. In 1963, he became one of the first inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (Editor’s note: Halas was on the original top 100 list, but accidentally didn’t make the final list as the names were being ranked.)
30. Peyton Manning, player
29. Mel Kiper, commentator
28. Jeff Kessler, outside counsel to NFLPA
27. Freeman McNeil, player/litigant
From 1990 to 1992 McNeil was the lead plaintiff in a successful case striking down the NFL’s Plan B free agency, which allowed teams to protect 37 players. A jury ruled it too restrictive and a violation of antitrust laws. The decision became a major stepping stone toward obtaining free agency.
26. Indra Nooyi, beverage executive
Under Nooyi’s leadership, Pepsi became intertwined with the NFL, whether through Pepsi or Gatorade sponsorship deals. The Super Bowl halftime show is titled with Pepsi, and Nooyi became a regular confidant of league executives.
25. Jerry Richardson, owner
Richardson sold the team in disgrace over a sexual misconduct scandal. Prior to that, he had a lengthy list of accomplishments as the only former player to become an owner. He brought pro football to the Carolinas with the expansion Panthers, quickly becoming an influential owner. The Panthers were also the first sports team to sell personal seat licenses.
24. Joe Robbie, owner
In 1984, Robbie ushered in the modern era of stadium financing with the audacious plan to finance a new home for the Dolphins by borrowing against the sale of new premium seats. Few then thought a stadium could be fully privately financed, but Robbie accomplished it, opening the door for the construction of a new wave of venues.
23. Fritz Pollard, player
A top player in the first six years of the NFL, the league then imposed an all-whites rules and removed the black players including Pollard. Memories of his days, his efforts to create all-black teams, inspired the creation of the influential Fritz Pollard Alliance, which advocates for minority hiring in the NFL.
22. Dick Ebersol, TV executive
The NBC sports head and master storyteller helped build Sunday Night Football into an institution starting in 2006. NBC had previously broadcast the NFL, but turning SNF into a must-watch event that would overtake Monday Night Football is one of Ebersol’s signature accomplishments.
21. Reggie White, player/litigant
White was of course a Hall of Famer player. But he’s here as the named plaintiff for the lawsuit that resulted in free agency, recertified the NFLPA, and led to nearly two decades of federal judicial oversight of the league’s labor relations.
20. Ed Sabol, NFL Films founder
Sabol founded what would become NFL Films in 1962 when he won the bidding to film that year’s NFL championship game for $5,000. The NFL in 1965 bought his company, and his films soon became key promotional masterpieces for the growing league.
19. Paul Tagliabue, NFL commissioner
From 1989 to 2006 Taglaibue oversaw the tremendous growth of the league. His friendship with union head Gene Upshaw helped smooth the hurt feelings from decades of labor battles. But he will also be remembered for downplaying the risk of playing football, calling concussions a journalism issue.
18. Bob Kraft, owner
Where to start? Six Super Bowl wins. Keeping the Patriots in the Boston area. Arguably the most influential NFL owner of his era. Kraft is so powerful, he is often called the shadow commissioner
17. John Madden, coach/announcer/video games
It’s hard to choose where Madden made his greatest mark. As the Super Bowl-winning coach of the Raiders? As the entertaining TV announcer famous for his appetite and his RV (he has a fear of flying)? Or is it his name atop the popular Electronic Arts video game Madden NFL (many gamers do not even know he is a real person). Whichever, Madden made his mark.
16. Joe Namath, player
Namath gave the fledgling AFL credibility when he signed with the Titans in 1964, and quickly became a cultural sensation. He cemented the AFL’s alliance with the NFL leading the Jets to a Super Bowl III win. Appearing on sidelines in fur coats, starring in shaving ads, Namath was a sex symbol of the 1970s.
15. Chase Carey, TV executive
As CEO of DirecTV he oversaw the tremendous partnership between the satellite carrier and the NFL. Its NFL Sunday Ticket product was a must-have for millions of fans, and instrumental in the promotion of the league.
14. Lamar Hunt, owner
He coined the name Super Bowl (named after a toy called the Super ball), so just for that he makes the list. But as an original AFL owner he pushed for the NFL merger, and soon became a deeply respected and influential voice. He championed scores of rules changes and innovations.
13. Art Rooney Sr., owner
The founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1933, Rooney maybe made his most important contribution by agreeing to move to the new AFC conference resulting from the NFL-AFL merger. The move was not popular among Steelers fans at the time who saw the AFL teams in the AFC as inferior, but six Super Bowls later few complaints are heard.
12. Michael Jackson, entertainer
Few may remember, but the Super Bowl halftime show used to be a yawner (yes, Up With People had the honors at one point). That changed with Jackson’s electric 1993 performance. This led to the show becoming a cultural touchstone, and ultimately as talked about as the game.
11. Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner
A lightning rod since taking over for Tagliabue in 2006, Goodell has overseen major prosperity and popularity for the NFL. How he has handed individual crises, from Deflategate to Bountygate, are open to question. But there is no questioning his role in overseeing the NFL’s dominance of the sports and entertainment marketplace.
10. Gene Upshaw, player/labor leader
The Hall of Famer led the NFLPA from 1983 until his death in 2008 with an iron fist that produced results for the union. His 2006 labor deal so advantaged the players that owners opted out of the pact two years later. He had tense relations with retired players, once comparing their marketability to dog food.
9. Al Davis, owner/AFL commissioner
It probably will grate on many that Davis is ranked so high, given his many legal battles with the NFL in the 1980 and 1990s. However, his stewardship of the AFL, creation of the Raiders brand and his “Just Win, Baby” motto cement his status. So hyper-focused on football, he was once introduced to a fan dressed as “Darth Vader” and had no idea who that was.
8. Vince Lombardi, coach
When you get the Super Bowl trophy named after you, that means you are pretty special. One of the first super coaches, Lombardi inspired a generation of future coaches and ensured Green Bay would remain an NFL market. He was also known for his then-progressive views on minorities.
7. Steve Bornstein, TV executive
From 1980 to 2003, Bornstein had key roles at ABC and ESPN, overseeing the growth of the cable network into a major partner of the NFL. ESPN created NFL Countdown under his watch. He then had a second act, moving to the league in 2003 to start the NFL Network.
6. Red Grange, player
A celebrity athlete of his day, Grange gave the NFL instant credibility in the 1920s when he chose to play. His signing in 1925 with the Chicago Bears was a major happening of that decade and helped the league compete with college football, king of the sport at that time.
5. Rupert Murdoch, media titan
Fox winning the rights to the NFC in 1993 was an earthquake. A network known for “The Simpsons” and little else, the move was a huge gamble for all involved. But the deal worked, ushering in a new era of big money TV contracts and Fox’s innovations.
4. Ralph Hay, NFL founder
It was in Hay’s Hupmobile showroom in 1920 in Canton, Ohio that the original 10 teams met and would become the NFL. It was Hay who brought the teams together and would bring order to what had been a mishmash of clubs up until that point.
3. Jerry Jones, owner
The Texas wildcatter upended the business model of the NFL in the 1990s by giving teams more say on their commercial operations. Never to be ignored, when a key owners committee in 2016 voted for one of two sites for relocation to LA, he quickly mobilized to shockingly upend that decision and win the day for the now-LA Rams. Asked once why he spent approximately $1.2 billion to build a football stadium when half that amount would have sufficed, he replied he wasn’t building a football stadium but an entertainment center. Indeed, AT&T Stadium makes tens of millions of dollars just for tours. He is a role model for other owners for how to make money.
2. Roone Arledge, TV executive
In 1970 the concept of night football was outlandish. But Arledge has that vision as head of ABC to schedule NFL games in primetime on Monday nights. MNF would become a spectacle, but also pave the way for Sunday and Thursday night football. The NFL was never the same or primetime TV broadcasting on those nights.
1. Pete Rozelle, commissioner
Through his public relations and marketing savvy, he helped create the modern NFL as commissioner from 1960 to 1989. When he took over, baseball and boxing were the two most popular sports. When he left, the NFL had far overtaken them. Under his stewardship, the NFL grow from 12 teams to 28. He oversaw the first large television rights deals, approved night football, the 1970 NFL-AFL merger and the launch of the Super Bowl. The NFL moved from a 12-game schedule to the current 16-game schedule. He is arguably the most consequential sports executive of the 20th century.
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Without going to the depths that Kaplan clearly went while compiling this list there's no possible metric that has Michael Jackson as being more influential than Joe Carr, Bert Bell, George Halas, and most of the other 96 people on the list. The NFL might not have made it out of the 1920s without Carr and Halas. Perhaps I'm in the wrong circle of folks but there's never been a Super Bowl halftime show more talked about than the game. Not even Super Bowl XXXVIII. I can't even recall Jackson's halftime performance but I remember the Cowboys' blowout of the Bills.
#38 Stan Honey gave us that yellow first down stripe that's become a broadcast staple. It's a terrific thing but is it really more influential than all that #64 Paul Brown brought to the game? Today's electric passing game has done far more for NFL business than that yellow stripe. Brown did as much as any coach to push offensive football forward.
Not to start a family feud, but it can be argued that #47 Dan Rooney had a greater business influence on the league than his father, #13 Art Rooney Sr. It can even be argued that Art Rooney Jr. had a greater influence on the Steelers as a scout than Sr. had as the owner.
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