SB Nation Bloggers Talk To Roger Goodell And Jeffrey Pash

EDIT: Jumped the gun on putting the audio out there. Check back here later, and the audio file will be back.

So, if you got to talk to the NFL Commissioner today, raise your hand.

looks around, raises hand

Yes, Commissioner Roger Goodell and Jeffrey Pash, the Executive Vice-President and General Counsel of the National Football League, took a half hour out of their busy schedules today to sit down with the bloggers of the SB Nation NFL Community. I'm not sure how many of us were actually able to make the call, but it pretty much turned into a question-and-answer session between the bloggers and the most powerful man in the NFL.

(By the way, this is my "good reason" for getting today's Community Mock Draft post up late. . .told you it was a good one.)

I managed to get a question in about the Vikings' stadium situation, and overall it was a pretty good, informative call. Of course, the labor situation got a lot of the attention, but we attempted to move on to other subjects as well.

When asked about the stadium situation in Minnesota, here's what Mr. Goodell and Mr. Pash had to say:

Roger Goodell: Having the Vikings in Minnesota is very important to the league. They are a big part of our tradition and our history. I know not only the NFL, but the Wilf family believes very strongly that the Vikings belong in Minnesota. We are working with the authorities there to come up with a solution that works for the community and the team.  There are obviously several challenges, but we hope in the context of a new collective bargaining agreement we will be able to find a business model that allows us to take the financial risk of building stadiums and make them reasonable investments, not only for the team but for the league and for the community. Our hope is that we can structure something that will give us a basis to continue our support of stadiums and the construction of stadiums, because they are good for everybody – the players, the clubs and the communities. 

Jeffrey Pash: I don’t know if it will be exactly like the G3 program, but we’ve had a lot of conversations with the union on how something like that would be structured and how it would be a benefit for the players as well. We are quite hopeful that when we get an agreement done, it will support construction in Minneapolis and in other places.

When we have the go-ahead to put the audio back up, I will do so.