Jeff Pash, a key figure in shaping NFL labor deals and formulating the league’s legal strategy through several high-profile controversies, plans to retire as the league’s top attorney, Commissioner Roger Goodell told teams in a memo.
“After 40 years of distinguished service to the NFL, Jeff Pash has decided to begin planning for his retirement,” Goodell wrote in the memo, a copy of which was obtained Thursday by The Washington Post.
Pash “will remain in his current position” as the NFL begins its search for his successor as executive vice president and general counsel, Goodell wrote, adding that Pash “will remain fully engaged and will actively participate in the search process and transition.”
Pash was among the main negotiators for the NFL and its team owners in the collective bargaining agreements completed with the NFL Players Association in 2011 and 2020. The 2020 CBA gave the league and owners the right to lengthen the regular season from 16 to 17 games per team, which the NFL did in 2021.
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Pash was among the candidates for commissioner before the owners elected Goodell in 2006 to succeed Paul Tagliabue. Pash’s departure will come as observers in and around the sport wonder when Goodell might retire. He just completed a three-year contract extension with the owners that will run until the spring of 2027, when Goodell will be 68.
Pash mostly maintained a low public profile even while being a significant decision-maker behind the scenes for the country’s most popular professional sports league. But he was at times in the spotlight.
The New England Patriots were critical of Pash’s handling of the Deflategate scandal, in which the NFL punished the team and quarterback Tom Brady in 2015 for an alleged scheme to under-inflate footballs. An attorney for the Patriots told Pash in emails released by the team that he was being “pretty disingenuous.”
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Communications between Bruce Allen — the former team president of Washington’s NFL franchise — and Pash were publicized by the New York Times as part of a series of October 2021 reports by the Times and Wall Street Journal stemming from leaked emails originally gathered during the NFL’s investigation conducted by attorney Beth Wilkinson into the Washington team’s workplace.
“Jeff’s career with the NFL has been dynamic and highly successful,” Goodell wrote in Thursday’s memo. “For four decades, he has loyally and effectively represented the league as external and in-house legal and labor counsel, contributing tremendously to the accomplishments of our organization over those years including two successful CBAs. His leadership and impact across our business are immeasurable, and we are incredibly grateful for the lasting contributions he has made.”
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