The impact of Tagliabue’s first years at the helm continued into 1993. Under the Tagliabue umbrella, the league and NFL collective bargaining agreements were reached in 1993. It was extended in 1998 and again in 2002 through the 2006 season. When Tagliabue took office in 1989, he took over the reins of a department that had weathered two labor strikes (1982, 1987) in the 1980s, but his tenure was characterized by labor harmony.
During Tagliabue’s administration, the league also supported the construction of 20 new stadiums.
While two new franchises were welcomed to the NFL during Tagliabue’s tenure, two others left their long-term host cities and further changed the landscape of the league. The Cleveland Browns, owned by Modell, left The Land to become the Baltimore Ravens in 1996. A year later, the Houston Oilers became the Tennessee Oilers and finally, in 1999, the Tennessee Titans.
In 1999, the Browns returned to Cleveland as an expansion team. In 2002, another expansion team emerged in the form of the Houston Texans.
It was in 2001 that Tagliabue was called upon to lead the department through difficult times that were felt across the nation. In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 — four coordinated suicide bombings that destroyed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, crashed the Pentagon and another on Pentagon Field following a passenger riot — Tagliabue announced that all Week 2 games had been postponed.
The attacks were on Tuesday and the games were postponed on Thursday.
In between, Tagliabue agonized over the decision, talking to owners and reflecting on the history of how the NFL and other sports leagues handled the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack and the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
“The topic of discussion was, are we engaging the terrorists in a way that reflects weakness and gives them victory, or are we doing the right thing and taking time to heal?” Tagliabue told NFL columnist Judy Battista in 2021.
It didn’t take long for Tagliabue to come to a decision he called a “no brainer.”
“When I could think it through, I said, ‘We’re not playing,'” Tagliabue said.
It was the first time the NFL canceled an entire week of games since 1987. However, the games would be played as they were moved to the end of the season. With that, Super Bowl XXXVI — 20-17 New England Patriots victory over St. Louis Rams — first championship game played in February.
It was at the beginning of the new century that Tagliabue’s importance to the league and the sports world in general attracted perhaps the greatest recognition.
He was named the 2000 Sports Entrepreneur of the Year by The Sports Business Daily, the 2001 Sports Executive of the Year and the 2001 Most Powerful Person in Sports by The Sporting News.
Unfortunately, four years after 9/11, Tagliabue was again called upon to shepherd the department through a tragic tragedy.
Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the surrounding area in late August 2005, causing nearly 1,400 deaths, damage estimated at more than $120 billion, and flooding in about 80% of the city.
Tagliabue subsequently played a key role in ensuring the Saints remained in New Orleans, working with Governor Kathleen Blanco and the Superdome to ensure the team’s home field was revived in time for the 2006 campaign.
“In terms of community and something that has a huge impact on the fans I think [keeping the Saints in New Orleans has] has to be No. 1,” Tagliabue told ESPN in 2015.
After Hurricane Katrina, the Saints opened the 2005 season with a “home game” against the New York Giants at Giants Stadium. After that, the Saints’ home games were played at LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, where the team’s offices were headquartered.
While the Saints denied ownership, reports and rumors swirled that the franchise would make its way to San Antonio permanently. Tagliabue wanted the Saints to stay, however, and on January 11, 2006, he announced that the team would play all eight of its home games at the Superdome, which would reopen on September 24, when New Orleans hosts the Atlanta Falcons. In dominant fashion, the Saints started the season 3-0, turned in an uplifting 10-6 campaign and advanced to the NFC Championship game. It was the first season in New Orleans for head coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees and the first time the team reached the NFC title game. Three seasons later, the Saints won the Super Bowl.
“If you wrote the story for a movie, people would say it’s hyperbole and exaggeration,” Tagliabue told ESPN.
Although no longer the general manager, Tagliabue played a major role in another chapter of Saints history in 2012. Goodell called Tagliabue to hear the appeal of Saints players suspended in “Bountygate,” a program in which New Orleans players allegedly collected bounties for injuring opposing players. That led to suspensions for Payton and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. Tagliabue upheld Goodell’s findings in the investigation, but reversed every suspension handed down to Saints players.
About six years before Goodell called him, Tagliabue finished his time as general manager.
Tagliabue signed a league television deal and a long-term contract with NFL players in the spring of 2005 and promptly announced his retirement a year later.
“As hard as this decision is, I also know it’s the right decision. Right for me. Right for the league,” he said.
Like a player who retires after a Super Bowl victory, Tagliabue left the NFL on a high note, having made deals that set the league up for future prosperity and having set up the future manager — Goodell — to hit the ground running.
Tagliabue was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020, following former commissioners Bert Bell and Pete Rozelle, and former deans Jim Thorpe and Joe Carr for enshrinement.
Despite being recognized as part of the 2020 Centennial, Tagliabue did not take a seat in Canton until the summer of 2021.
“It’s like a dream come true, I’ll tell you that,” he said in his inaugural address. “Thank you all so much. I am honored to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in this Centennial Class. It spans the history of professional football, from Duke Slater’s accomplishments in the heady days of the NFL’s first generation, to players, coaches and others who have excelled in recent decades.”
For nearly two decades, Tagliabue steered the NFL ship.
He steered the league, its owners and players into labor peace and television prosperity; he drove expansion and international growth; and perhaps most memorably, he captained the NFL through the heartbreak of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.
Engaging in his bespectacled presence and always offering the most professional demeanor, Tagliabue will forever be one of the gridiron’s greatest game changers.