This is the communications file on the NFL — the league office, the union, all 32 clubs, the broadcasters, the gambling integrators, the international calendar, and the active reputation files at the ownership level.
The League Office: Goodell, Pash, and the Park Avenue Operation
Commissioner Roger Goodell has held the role since September 2006 and signed a contract extension in 2023 that runs through March 2027. The league office at 345 Park Avenue runs roughly 500 employees across football operations, media, communications, business, and legal. General Counsel Jeff Pash departed in 2024 after more than two decades; the legal seat is now held by Larry Ferazani.
The Chief Communications Officer role sits under Jeff Miller in football operations and Brian McCarthy as SVP of Communications, with Joanna Hunter and Alex Riethmiller running media relations and Tim Schlittner managing labor and business comms. The Chief Marketing Officer is Tim Ellis; the role coordinates the Super Bowl, the international series, and the league's brand work across Nike, the official sponsors, and the social platforms.
The league speaks in three registers. The Commissioner speaks for institutional moments — the start of the season, the State of the League address before the Super Bowl, the Hall of Fame, the draft podium. The communications shop speaks for week-to-week press and broadcast support. The Football Operations channel speaks for officiating, discipline, and rule-change explanation. The three voices are coordinated. They almost never contradict each other in public.
The NFLPA File
The National Football League Players Association elected Lloyd Howell as Executive Director in summer 2023, succeeding DeMaurice Smith after fourteen years. JC Tretter, the former Browns center, holds the President role. The union runs an active communications shop — separate brand voice, separate press list, separate spokesperson rotation. The communications relationship with the league office has been adversarial more often than collaborative.
The current CBA runs through the 2030 season. The communications timeline is therefore unusually long. The next four years will be defined by player health and safety files, marijuana policy reform, international expansion, and the 18-game schedule question. The union has stated public opposition to an 18-game regular season. The league has stated public openness to it. The communications battle for that change has not yet started in earnest.
The Broadcast Picture: CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN-ABC, Amazon, Netflix, YouTube TV
The current rights cycle runs through 2033 and is the most fragmented in the league's history. CBS carries the AFC Sunday package and a Super Bowl rotation. Fox carries the NFC Sunday package and a Super Bowl rotation. NBC carries Sunday Night Football and a Super Bowl rotation. ESPN and ABC carry Monday Night Football, a Super Bowl rotation starting with the 2026 season, and the wild card playoff window. Amazon Prime Video carries Thursday Night Football. Netflix carries Christmas Day games under a three-year deal that began in December 2024. YouTube TV carries NFL Sunday Ticket — the out-of-market package — under a seven-year deal that began in 2023.
The communications challenge is coordinating a single league message across seven independent broadcast organizations, each with its own studio show, its own insider corps, and its own commercial relationship with the league. The league's media relations team runs a partner desk specifically to keep the broadcasters aligned on scheduling announcements, rule changes, and breaking-news handling. The Sunday production calls — coordinated between league HQ and each network's studio — are the operational backbone of the system.
All 32 Franchises
Every NFL club runs its own communications operation. Most run them in-house. The list below covers the league as currently constituted.
AFC East
Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Jets.
AFC North
Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers.
AFC South
Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans.
AFC West
Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers.
NFC East
Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Commanders.
NFC North
Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings.
NFC South
Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
NFC West
Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks.
Four clubs operate above the rest of the league on communications complexity. The Dallas Cowboys remain the most-covered franchise in American sport — every roster, contract, ownership, and stadium story carries national weight under Jerry Jones. The Kansas City Chiefs run the only active dynasty-era operation in the league, with the Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, and Travis Kelce communications loads layered on top of a competitive front-office posture. The Philadelphia Eagles run the most aggressive in-house content shop in the league. The Washington Commanders completed the largest ownership reset in NFL history when the Josh Harris group bought the team from Daniel Snyder in 2023 for $6.05 billion — a transaction whose communications register reset the franchise from a press-investigation file to a turnaround story inside eighteen months.
Gambling Integration
The NFL has the deepest gambling integration of any U.S. major league. Official sportsbook partners include Caesars, FanDuel, and DraftKings. Daily fantasy and sportsbook overlays run inside broadcast. The Las Vegas Raiders franchise — relocated from Oakland in 2020 — sits a mile from the Strip and hosted Super Bowl LVIII in 2024.
Integrity has been the active file. The league suspended Calvin Ridley in 2022 for a full season for betting on NFL games. Five Detroit Lions players were suspended in 2023. The Indianapolis Colts' Isaiah Rodgers received a one-year suspension. The communications posture is fast and definitive — public ruling, public length, public reasoning. The league has chosen to publish the discipline. The choice has stabilized the gambling story so far.
International: London, Munich, São Paulo, Madrid
The International Series runs five regular-season games outside the United States in 2025 — three in London, one in Munich, one in São Paulo, with Madrid scheduled to host its first NFL regular-season game in 2025 at Santiago Bernabéu. The Frankfurt and Munich German series began in 2022. The São Paulo game began in 2024. Toronto and Mexico City remain in the rotation.
The international communications operation is run as a distinct unit inside the league office, with local media coordination per market and broadcast partnerships across DAZN, Sky, ESPN Brazil, and the BBC. Each market gets a tailored launch playbook — local press, ambassador rotation, fan event calendar, and pre-game media availability. The international file has been the league's most consistent growth story since 2007.
Player Safety, Concussion Protocol, and the Hard File
Concussion remains the largest live communications file in the league. The 2013 master settlement with retired players covered roughly $1 billion in projected payouts over 65 years. The NFL Players Brain Health Alliance was launched in 2024. The concussion protocol was rewritten after the Tua Tagovailoa 2022 incidents. Independent neurological consultants now sit on every game-day medical staff.
The communications posture has shifted measurably in the last five years. The league has stopped contesting the basic science publicly. The shift is partial. It is also real. The publishing format around player safety has moved from defensive press release to ongoing health-program publishing, with regular updates from the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills.
The Reputation Files at the Ownership Level
Owner-level reputation work is structural. The league has handled the Dan Snyder exit from Washington, the Robert Sarver exit from the Suns (which carried NBA implications and crossover commentary inside the NFL), the ongoing Jerry Jones legacy posture in Dallas, the Jim Irsay public health file in Indianapolis, the John Mara succession question in New York, and the operational transitions of the Walton-Penner ownership group in Denver. Each is a discrete communications track. None of them sit inside a public template. All of them sit inside the league's institutional knowledge.
Brian McCarthy leads the league's SVP of Communications function with deputies including Joanna Hunter, Alex Riethmiller, and Tim Schlittner. Football Operations communications run under Jeff Miller. Marketing runs under CMO Tim Ellis. The Commissioner's Office sits over all of it.
Which networks carry NFL games?
CBS (AFC Sunday), Fox (NFC Sunday), NBC (Sunday Night), ESPN-ABC (Monday Night), Amazon Prime Video (Thursday Night), Netflix (Christmas Day), and YouTube TV (Sunday Ticket out-of-market). The current rights cycle runs through 2033.
How does the NFL handle player discipline announcements?
Through the Football Operations channel under Jeff Miller and Troy Vincent. Rulings are published with length, basis, and appeal rights. The format has been used to communicate the league's gambling integrity rulings, personal-conduct policy enforcement, and on-field discipline.
What is the NFL's posture on sports betting?
Active integration. Official sportsbook partners include Caesars, FanDuel, and DraftKings. Integrity monitoring runs through Sportradar and Genius Sports. The league has publicly suspended players for betting-related violations and has chosen a transparent discipline posture.
How many international games does the NFL play?
Five regular-season international games in 2025: three in London, one in Munich, one in São Paulo, plus Madrid scheduled to host its first NFL regular-season game at Santiago Bernabéu in 2025. The International Series began in 2007.
When does the current NFL CBA expire?
The current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association runs through the conclusion of the 2030 season. Executive Director Lloyd Howell took over the union in summer 2023.
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