In Memoriam: Paul Tagliabue ’65
Paul Tagliabue ’65, former commissioner of the National Football League and a former NYU Law trustee, passed away on November 9 at the age of 84.
“Paul’s extraordinary role in the NYU Law community is something we will always cherish,” says Dean Troy McKenzie ’00, Cecelia Goetz Professor of Law. “He embodied the ideals of leadership, service, and excellence that define this institution, and his dedication to our students and his generosity have strengthened the life of the Law School in lasting ways. We are profoundly grateful for all that he has done for our school.”
Reared in Jersey City, New Jersey, Tagliabue was a basketball standout at St. Michael’s High School in Union City and attended Georgetown University on an athletic scholarship. Team captain of the Hoyas and president of his class, Tagliabue majored in government and graduated with honors. At NYU Law, he was a Root-Tilden Scholar and an editor on the NYU Law Review, and graduated Order of the Coif.
After graduation, Tagliabue worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense before joining law firm Covington & Burling as an associate in 1969. He became a partner in 1974 and went on to serve on the firm’s management committee. Tagliabue’s practice included litigation of regulatory, antitrust, government contracts, international trade, and discrimination cases, but sports business—including representation of the National Football League—became his main focus. In 1989, when NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle retired, Rozelle recommended Tagliabue as his replacement.
On Tagliabue’s watch, the NFL expanded from 28 to 32 teams and saw strong growth in fan interest and revenue, thanks in part to new television contracts that eventually totaled $25 billion. Under Tagliabue, the league helped finance the construction of 20 new stadiums, expanded its presence in Europe, and created the NFL TV network.
In particular, Tagliabue’s tenure was notable for a labor-management truce that resulted in the signing of two long-term contracts with expanded benefits for players. After Tagliabue was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020, he recalled the effort to achieve labor peace. “For 20 years, the NFL had been locked in a bitter, often destructive war with the Players Union, the NFL Players Association, over free agency and other matters,” he said. “Finding a way to end this battle became my top priority.… If labor peace was to be achieved, the clubs and the players had to become genuine partners.… It took three years, but by 1993 we produced a collective bargaining agreement whose core remains sound today.”
After retiring from the NFL in 2006, Tagliabue returned to Covington as senior of counsel. He served on Georgetown’s Board of Trustees for 12 years, including six as chair. He advised the US Olympic Committee on governance issues and was a board member of nonprofits that include the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the United Way of America, the National Urban League, and the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE).
In 2012 Tagliabue received the Jackie Robinson Foundation’s ROBIE award for commitment to diversity. As NFL commissioner, he had appointed the first diversity committee of NFL owners, resulting in measures to ensure that minority candidates were considered for head coaching and management jobs; in 1993, he moved the Super Bowl XXVII from Arizona to California when the state of Arizona refused to adopt the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday; and he pressed successfully to keep the New Orleans Saints from relocating permanently after Hurricane Katrina.
Tagliabue retained strong ties to NYU Law. As well as serving as a trustee, he co-chaired his class’s reunion committee multiple times, served as a member of the Council on the Future of the Law School under then-Dean John Sexton, and was a regular supporter of the Weinfeld Fund and other Law School programs. In 1992, NYU recognized him with the University’s Distinguished Alumni Award, and in 1995, he received the Law Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumnus Award.
