Background and career
Paul John Tagliabue ( TAG-lee-ə-boo; November 24, 1940 – November 9, 2025) was an American lawyer who was the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL). He took the position in 1989 and served until September 1, 2006. He had previously served as a lawyer for the NFL. During his commissionership, the NFL added four new franchises, while keeping the Saints in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina; four franchises moved cities. Tagliabue postponed games following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and took a hardline stance against the state of Arizona for failing to recognize a state holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. by moving Super Bowl XXVII to California, and established the World League of American Football in 1989. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of its Centennial Class of 2020, and formally enshrined on August 7, 2021. In addition to his NFL career, Tagliabue also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Georgetown University from 2009 to 2015.
Tagliabue was born on November 24, 1940, in Jersey City, New Jersey, the third of four sons of Charles and May Tagliabue. He was of Italian descent. Raised in The Heights neighborhood of Jersey City, he attended St. Michael's High School in Union City, New Jersey, where he starred in basketball. Tagliabue received an athletic scholarship to play basketball at Georgetown University and was captain of the 1961–62 team. He graduated in 1962 as president of his senior class, a Rhodes Scholar finalist and a Dean's List graduate. In a congressional hearing in 1992, Tagliabue later revealed he had inadvertently played in a game where an opposing team would fix the outcome of the game in favor of Georgetown, which would be one factor in mind for him taking a staunch stance against gambling later on in his life. Tagliabue graduated from New York University School of Law with honors in 1965.
From 1969 to 1989, Tagliabue practiced law with the Washington, D.C., firm Covington & Burling.
After serving as a lawyer for the NFL, Tagliabue was selected by NFL owners to succeed Pete Rozelle as Commissioner of the NFL in 1989.
During his tenure as commissioner, the NFL expanded from 28 teams to 32. New franchises were announced in 1993 to begin play in 1995 in Charlotte and Jacksonville. However, in 1996, then-Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell worked out a deal where he could use that team's current set of players to establish NFL's 31st franchise, the Baltimore Ravens. As a result, the Browns franchise was forced to suspend operations for three seasons before their roster was restocked via an expansion draft in 1999. The 32nd franchise was the Houston Texans, added in 2002.
The NFL continued to play pre-season games in Europe with the American Bowl series. Paul Tagliabue started a spring developmental league, the World League of American Football (WLAF), with seven teams in North America, plus three in Europe. The European teams dominated in 1991, the first season. After the second season, 1992, in which U.S.-based teams played in the World Bowl, the World League was shut down as it was unsuccessful in the United States. In 1995, the spring league returned as the NFL Europe with six teams in Europe. When Tagliabue retired, five teams were based in Germany. Tagliabue's successor Roger Goodell shut down the NFL Europe after the 2007 season. but replaced it with the NFL International Series in October 2007 with regular season games in London. On November 13, 2022, the NFL played its first-ever regular-season game in mainland Europe, in Munich, Germany.
