Anthony Cornwell, Jr. Homecoming Extra Credit

The homecoming symposium speech that I attended was Richard Maxwell’s. Richard Maxwell was the Senior Director of Broadcasting for the National Football League. There were a couple of things that I learned from Richard Maxwell’s speech. The first was to work hard. Mr. Maxwell said that every commissioner that he worked under had a passion for the NFL and worked hard. From Pete Rozelle to Paul Tagliabue to Roger Goodell, the one thing they all had in common was hard work. He explained how Roger Goodell started out as an intern in public relations for the NFL. Just in case you read that wrong, Roger Goodell started out as an intern in public relations for the NFL, an intern. Mr. Maxwell also explained how Commissioner Goodell had plenty of opportunities to leave the NFL and go work for other companies, but his passion to be the commissioner one day was so strong that he turned down every opportunity. That just lets us know that if you really want something bad enough, don’t stop until you get it. Another thing that I enjoyed was how he talked about the case study that got each network a way to have NFL games. He didn’t go all the way into detail, but he explained how every network was happy except NBC. At the time NBC hosted Monday Night Football and ESPN hosted Sunday Night Football, while CBS had AFC games and FOX had NFC games. CBS and FOX still have the same contracts but ESPN and NBC doesn’t. NBC claims they were losing viewers and money due to Monday Night Football; because viewers would rather watch Desperate Housewives than Monday Night Football. So ESPN and NBC made the switch and when this switch was made, Sunday Night Football became the number one show to watch on Sunday night. It all worked out for the better for both networks. I wish Mr. Maxwell would’ve talked longer, but I got enough from his speech.