Newz Forum: FOOTBALL: Tagliabue new contract runs through '07

NEW YORK -- Paul Tagliabue will remain as NFL commissioner through the end of the 2007 season.

Tagliabue has officially agreed to the new deal, announced last March, to extend his current contract that would have expired after next season, league officials said Monday.

Tagliabue will be 67 when the contract expires -- he would have retired at 65 had he stuck to his current deal. The new one is expected to pay him around $8 million a year, putting him on a level with NBA commissioner David Stern as the highest paid chief executives in professional sports.

The deal has been approved unanimously by the NFL's 32 owners.

It was first conceived during spring meetings in Palm Beach, Fla., last March in order to keep Tagliabue on through the upcoming television and labor negotiations.

source

CBS