Every Day Is Sunday: How Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, and Roger Goodell Turned the NFL into a Cultural & Economic Juggernaut

New York Times reporter Belson (Hello Kitty) offers a candid history of how NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft turned the NFL into an immensely profitable institution. The NFL brought in $23 billion in 2024, Belson notes, making it “essentially a Fortune 500 company masquerading as a sports League.” Today, NFL games attract huge television audiences, the Super Bowl is a “de facto national holiday,” and the teams play in billion-dollar stadiums. None of this was inevitable, Belson argues. The NFL was relatively small until the 1990s, when sponsorships and television packages shot up revenue. Jones and Kraft, who bought their teams in 1989 and 1994, respectively, were eager for success and built the Cowboys and Patriots into two of sports’ most valuable franchises through aggressively marketing. In 2006, they backed Goodell to be the next commissioner, who went on to cut record-setting deals with networks and sponsors. Belson adeptly analyzes controversies during Goodell’s tenure, including a class action lawsuit from thousands of players alleging the NFL lied about the risks of repeated hits to the head. He skewers the league’s response, writing that the NFL was “at its most bloodless, sidestepping a major controversy by throwing money at the problem.” This eye-opening report bares all. (Oct.)