On January 17, 1941, the NFL franchise owners amended the league's constitution to change the chief executive's title from "president" to "commissioner".

Bulldogs owner Ralph Hay was named the first head of the league (the title was officially "Temporary Secretary" until a permanent president could be chosen).

At the same meeting where this dispute was resolved in favor of Ranney's own Akron Pros, Joseph Carr, owner of the Columbus Panhandles, was named league president.

Carr moved the Association's headquarters to Columbus, drafted a league constitution and by-laws, gave teams territorial rights, developed membership criteria for the franchises, and issued formal standings for the first time, so that the APFA would have a clear champion.

The first major challenge to Carr's authority came at the end of the 1921 season, when the Green Bay Packers, who had joined the APFA that year, admitted to having used college players under assumed names.

However, a few months later, a group headed by Packers coach and future Hall of Famer Curly Lambeau applied for, and was granted, the Green Bay franchise.

They pledged not to reveal who the finalists were, although it was reported that former United States Postmaster General and Democratic National Committee Chairman James Farley was considered for the job.

Bell stated that Layden had been "railroaded" into office over other finalists (Philadelphia political leader John B. Kelly Sr. and University of Minnesota athletic director Frank G. McCormick, the latter of whom had yet to be interviewed).

[16] Before his appointment, Bell had been active in the NFL since its beginning, first occasionally playing against them as a member of the Union Quakers of Philadelphia, then a decade later as co-founder, owner, general manager and head coach of the Eagles, then as part-owner of the Steelers.

In response, he successfully lobbied legislators in virtually every state to enact laws that made it a crime for an athlete not to report a bribe attempt.

However, he was seen as being a little too strict when he refused to lift a blackout for Detroit viewers to watch the sold out 1957 NFL Championship between the Lions and the Cleveland Browns, claiming it would be considered "dishonest" to the paying customers.

Bell died of a heart attack on October 11, 1959, at Philadelphia's Franklin Field, while watching a game between the team he co-founded, the Eagles, and the Steelers.

[17] Los Angeles Times special events director Paul J. Schissler and Detroit Lions President Edwin J. Anderson were proposed as compromise candidates but neither received enough support.

[18] Leahy received strong opposition from four owners, Carroll Rosenbloom, Art Rooney, George Preston Marshall, and Frank McNamee, who objected to his plan to move the league office to San Francisco if he was elected.

Rozelle gained the support of the four anti-Leahy owners by pledging to move the league office from Philadelphia to New York City instead of the West Coast.

[32] Rozelle's "aptitude for conciliation" with the league's owners and his work in expanding the NFL, however, led to his receiving Sports Illustrated magazine's 1963 "Sportsman of the Year" award.

[citation needed] By 1965, the rival American Football League was firmly established, with a new NBC-TV contract, and a new superstar in New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath.

Davis had immediately started signing NFL stars such as Roman Gabriel, John Brodie and Mike Ditka to contracts with AFL teams.

AFL owners agreed to recognize Rozelle as the overall chief executive of the sport and appoint a league President to serve under the NFL Commissioner.

Towards the end of the decade, labor unrest and litigation over issues such as the NFL Players Association and team movement to new markets foreshadowed Rozelle's decline as commissioner.

Rozelle, again according to Monday Night Football commentator Howard Cosell, pushed the NFL into an internecine struggle with Al Davis concerning the movement of the Oakland Raiders franchise to Los Angeles.

In early 1981, the Oakland Raiders won Super Bowl XV; as commissioner, Rozelle presented the Vince Lombardi Trophy to Davis.

[43] The committee narrowed the candidates to five finalists; New Orleans Saints general manager and minority owner Jim Finks, New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority President and CEO Robert E. Mulcahy III, former Green Bay Packers defensive end and businessman Willie Davis, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Paul G. Kirk, and league attorney Paul Tagliabue.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary and former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jack Kemp was considered for the job, but chose to remain in his cabinet post.

[45][46][47][48] A second search committee was formed consisting of Mara, Hunt, Mike Lynn, Ken Behring, John Kent Cooke, and Al Davis.

[52] Two days after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Tagliabue announced that the games scheduled for the upcoming weekend were canceled.

Tagliabue said the NFL was acutely aware of Commissioner Pete Rozelle's well-publicized regret not to cancel the games on the weekend following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963.

He headed NFL Ventures, which oversees the league's business units, including media properties, marketing and sales, stadium development and strategic planning.

[62] In the late summer and early autumn of 2014, a series of domestic-violence scandals broke, tarnishing Goodell's reputation, as he was seen as initially not having reacted quickly or severely enough to them.

[67][68] On July 29, the NFLPA announced that they filed an injunction to prevent the NFL from enforcing the four-game suspension that commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed.