Super Bowl: Roger Goodell has no qualms about playing big game in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Roger Goodell, once one of the staunchest opponents of sports gambling and the commissioner of a league that had long viewed Las Vegas as a taboo to avoid, kicked off Super Bowl week in Sin City with a news conference Monday in which he declared his new love for this desert oasis and all it symbolizes.

“I couldn’t think of a negative thing about it,” he said of the location for Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday between Kansas City and San Francisco. “You used to say, ‘This is a gambling town.’ This is an entertainment town. This is a sports town. It’s an event town. We’re seeing that in Super Bowl week.”

Maintaining the integrity of the game and making sure there are no outside influences that impact its outcomes remains, Goodell said, priorities “one, two and three.” And though he hinted that he still may be uncomfortable with the coziness his league now has with what was long an underbelly of pro sports, he said he has no choice.

“We understand the risks,” he said. “We did not make the decision. The Supreme Court did [when it struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018]. We have to adapt.”

On the record, the league says it has no grave or specific concerns regarding the location of this game and this week’s festivities. Behind the scenes, however, there have been reminder memos landing in about 17,000 email inboxes outlining the league’s policies as they pertain to gambling.

That policy prohibits all personnel from entering a sportsbook for any reason while in Las Vegas, including to eat or drink, other than as a means to get to a “permissible adjacent area.” League employees are barred from gambling “of any kind at any time,” including any personal time they may spend in Vegas in the days before and even after the game.

As such, one of the more entertaining activities this week has been watching those who fall under the NFL’s rules navigate the various casinos on their way to, from and between events. They dart and dodge as if the rattlesnake arms of the slot machines that rim the labyrinthine walkways will jump out to bite them and dare not even glance at the spinning roulette wheels lest they be pulled into their vortex.

At one of the official league hotels, the morning line at the Starbucks stretches dangerously close to the entrance of the adjoining sportsbook, creating some awkward milling about.

In the last two years, nearly a dozen players have received suspensions for violating the league’s rules. Goodell said about two dozen other league and team employees have been disciplined and, in some cases, terminated.

Goodell touched on a number of other topics during his 55-minute news conference that serves as his “State of the League” address.

He applauded efforts to increase the hiring of minority head coaches in this most recent cycle and stressed that the league still can make progress. He announced that the Eagles will host the first game in Brazil in September, on the Friday night of opening week. He said the league’s move toward more streaming platforms, such as the Wild Card game that was broadcast on Peacock last month, is an effort to reach more (and younger) fans and called it “a part of our future,” but he stopped short of predicting a Super Bowl on a streaming service anytime soon. He called on the officiating of the game to continue to improve through technology and strive for more consistency.

He said lovely things about Taylor Swift and Bill Belichick.

The biggest topic by far, given the location of the game, was the gambling issue.

“This city knows how to put on big events,” Goodell said.

Now it is home to football’s biggest. Asked if he has a pick for Sunday’s game, Goodell wouldn’t budge. “I know better,” he said.

Had he offered an opinion, it almost certainly would have rippled through this town and affected the lines.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.