ORLANDO, Fla --NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell met the media at the conclusion of the NFL annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. See below for some of the topics he addressed with the press:
On the New York/New Jersey Super Bowl and the effect it may have on future Super Bowls being held in open-air stadiums in cold-weather cities:
"We discussed the Super Bowl in the context of what we achieved, the successes that occurred and things that we can do better. We do that every year following the Super Bowl and try to achieve a better event for our fans and for our teams. The overall reaction was positive. People believe that the Super Bowl was a great opportunity to put us on the number-one stage and promote the Super Bowl. There was a positive reaction to it. The only future discussion we had was really the bidding process in May and we already have three cities that are in that process."
On if the league has thought about having a larger psychological evaluation for players:
"We've not only thought about it, we're doing it. We look at the total wellness of an individual -- the physical wellness as well as mental wellness and then we try to give them the resources to try to be able to deal with that. We have definitely made great strides in that. That doesn't mean we don't have more work to do. We continue to focus on that."
On potentially expanding the playoffs and what are the next steps:
"We had a good discussion on it on several fronts. As you know, the Competition Committee has been looking at this for a couple of years. We have discussed it in various committees, including broadcasting. We had a full discussion on the floor with the owners and other executives this week. I think there's a tremendous amount of interest in this, possibly even to the point of support, but there are also things we still want to make sure we do it right. We've been very incremental in trying to do this, but we believe competitively it could make even our races toward the end of our season even more exciting with more teams vying for playoff positions, which is great for our fans. We still want to do some additional work, including talking with the players association. We have a scheduled meeting set for April 8. This will be one of the things we'll probably discuss and then we'll also have to talk to broadcast partners and there are some scheduling issues that we still need to work through."
On discussions regarding workplace conduct:
"This is a professional workplace for everybody. That's players, coaches, trainers, equipment men, executives. All of us expect that and it is our job to make sure we deliver that. I think this is going to be a collective effort. You've heard some of the coaches. We've had several different sessions discussing this with executives, owners and coaches. We are going to talk with our players on April 8 and that's the focus of the meeting. We'll talk about what we can do to ensure a professional workplace. I mentioned to you the other day that I met with 40 players from nine different teams over the last three months to discuss this. They want a professional workplace and we owe it to them. We are going to work with them to try to create that."
On making the locker room environment closer to the front office:
"You guys have all been there. Locker rooms are unique. There are unique things that we have to think about. We want them to be professional. We want them to be comfortable –everyone in that locker room – so they can focus on doing their job. That's what we all owe them. We will be working with our players, our coaches, our executives and with outside experts. We will be going through a lot of training on the club level over the next several months and I'm confident that everyone understands the importance of it and embraces it."
