Drumbeat To Have Condoleeza Rice Replace Roger Goodell Intensifies

Could Condoleeza Rice be the person that finally saves the NFL from itself? The drumbeat to draft the former National Security Advisor is starting to get louder and louder as more NFL officials voice their displeasure with Roger Goodell. At the heart of the issue is the way Goodell handled the Ray Rice situation, and as more comments are made and more evidence comes out, more people are calling for the NFL commish to be replaced.

If a move is made to actually oust Goodell, the issue becomes one of deciding who will replace him. Rightfully so, there are many who feel hiring another man from inside the league will simply perpetuate the “old boys network” feel many feel helped make this situation worse than it needed to be. This feeling of needing to go outside the NFL is one of the reasons Condoleeza Rice has become such as popular choice.

According to MSNBC.com, the voices calling for Condoleeza Rice are about as varied as one could expect. Rob Lowe wants the former Bush administration official in the office of Commissioner as does United States Senator John McCain. Even former co-workers who often clashed with her, such as Karl Rove recently told BuzzFeed he though she would be great in the job. “I think Condi would succeed in any job she had, as she did when she was National Security Advisor, Secretary of State, Provost at Stanford, etc. If it’s a job she wants, her encyclopedic knowledge of the sport and passion for the game, I have no doubt she’d be great.”

For her part, Condi has long voiced an interest in the position, dating all the way back to a 2002 interview. In that piece, she made it very clear she wanted to be the commissioner of the NFL, but didn’t want to take it away from anyone. It appears this time, she would indeed have to take the job away from Goodell, who has shown no indication he has any interest in stepping down. There are obviously those who would assume Condoleeza Rice simply doesn’t have the background to be the NFL commissioner, but as Provost at Stanford, she is also a member of the college football playoff committee.

She understands football in a way few others who have her resume could ever hope to understand it. Condoleeza Rice is also one of those people who seems to transcend party affiliation. Democrats and Republicans believe she could do the job. The only real question is whether or not the push to get Condoleeza Rice will become strong enough to push Roger Goodell out of his office.