At the NFL’s Spring League Meeting in Minnesota on Monday, commissioner Roger Goodell did not have the necessary 24 votes to adopt a rule change for kickoffs beginning with the 2023 season.
By Tuesday, several times flipped their vote and the rule change passed on a one-year trial period. This season, a team that fair catches a kickoff will be given the ball at their own 25-yard line instead of where the ball is caught.
To get enough support for that rule change, Goodell had to flip the votes of several team owners, including Denver Broncos co-owner/CEO Greg Penner, according to The MMQB’s Albert Breer.
I'm told there were 12-14 no's in that room Monday. As we wrote last week, Bill Belichick, John Harbaugh and Dan Campbell supported the ST coaches' efforts, so no surprise their owners had their backs. Sean Payton was another who backed the STCs—Denver was one Goodell flipped.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) May 24, 2023
This marks the second time this offseason that Penner has changed his mind on a rule change. Penner voted in favor of flexible Thursday Night Football scheduling on Monday after previously abstaining from a vote earlier this offseason.
It’s unclear how Goodell got Penner to change his votes, but one can only speculate that the Broncos owner used his leverage as bargaining power. Owners can trade votes for concessions or other areas, and perhaps — just wildly speculating — a future draft in Denver was part of the talks.
The Broncos will also want to host a future Super Bowl if they build a new super stadium in the coming years. Maybe the draft and Super Bowl had nothing to do with it, maybe it did.
We might never know how, but Goodell has gotten Denver’s ownership to flip votes twice this offseason.
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