Roger Goodell smiles in discussion with Donald Trump. Roger Goodell smiles in discussion with Donald Trump. (Aaron Rupar on X.)
NFLPoliticsBy Andrew Bucholtz on

The NFL announced Monday that the 2027 NFL Draft will be held in Washington, D.C., and hosted by the Commanders. The league made that announcement with U.S. President Donald Trump, with the actual announcement issued by Trump, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser from the Oval Office.

But while league and team announcements are usually tightly focused on the specific announcement, that’s not always the case for Oval Office announcements of any kind. Those represent a rare opportunity for invited reporters to get the president’s direct thoughts, meaning that questions on other fronts are often taken and answered.

That meant Goodell and Bowser stood in the frame for clips of Trump’s responses on various topics. And those topics were all over the place, from the “big lie” of a stolen 2020 election to Trump’s claim to know who blew up the Nordstream pipeline, the president’s plans to convert Alcatraz from a historical site back to a prison, and impose tariffs on movies produced in foreign countries, and the official White House social media accounts using AI-generated art of Trump in Pope regalia.

That prompted a lot of conversation about Goodell’s facial expressions. Those were perhaps especially notable when Trump looked to Goodell for agreement on Alcatraz being “the ultimate” (which drew a nod from the commissioner), and after Trump said being the Pope wouldn’t allow him to be married any more (which drew a laugh from Goodell).

Forensic analysis of Goodell’s apparent reaction is similar to sports lip-reading attempts, which have had highs and lows. But the larger picture here is maybe about how odd it is for the leader of the extremely image-conscious and message-conscious NFL to be standing there in the frame and even occasionally looked to for reactions as the president takes questions on things the league wants absolutely nothing to do with.

Of course, Goodell and the NFL were under some constraints here. The obtaining of this draft (which has become an extremely hot property for cities to bid for, with Washington winning out over Denver here) came around the news of a long-awaited stadium deal to bring the Commanders back into the district. And both of those matters have connections to the federal government. Indeed, Commanders owner Josh Harris (who, fortunately for him, did not wind up in the frame during the other-topic Q+A session here) used this moment to pay tribute to Trump and present him with a football and a jersey.

If Trump wanted to host and orchestrate this announcement, saying no would be difficult. And any pushback could have posed significant problems for the NFL’s efforts in Washington. But while it’s somewhat understandable that Goodell and the league went along with this plan, it’s still far from an ideal look for the NFL.

This is miles off the league’s desired message control on any announcement. And there’s further potential ammunition for NFL critics here, especially with this coinciding with reports on the president’s proposed budget seeking to slash funding for brain injury research (research the league has often supported in various ways, especially after the criticisms they took for previous inaction on concussions).

Goodell’s Oval Office appearance for this specific purpose isn’t necessarily going to have a significant impact on its own. It makes some sense why the NFL would agree to this under these circumstances. However, the images from this event will undoubtedly stick around for the commissioner and the league for a while.

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz