Every Day Is Sunday - by Ken Belson (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From veteran New York Times Business & NFL reporter, Ken Belson, a deeply-reported account of how the NFL's Commissioner, Roger Goodell, and its two most powerful owners, Jerry Jones & Robert Kraft, turned the league into a financial and cultural juggernaut.

On February 11, 2024, NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, & the NFL's two most powerful owners, Jerry Jones & Robert Kraft, looked down at the spectacle before them. What they saw was the league's championship game, the Super Bowl--now a de facto national holiday--being played in a shiny $2B stadium, home to the first football franchise based in Las Vegas, after the league's embrace of nationwide gambling. The moment was over 30 years in the making.

It was another sign that Goodell and the owners saw the NFL as a media behemoth and cultural institution, not just a mere sports league.

In Every Day is Sunday, veteran New York Times Business & NFL reporter, Ken Belson, traces the evolution of the league from "one of the four big US professional sports," into the cultural & economic juggernaut it is today.

Belson illustrates how the league's rise coincided with the arrival of Jones & Kraft in the early 90's. He provides an inside look on how these two men reshaped the league, taking readers into the secretive owner's meeting, how they decided Goodell was the right man to replace Paul Tagliabue as commissioner, and how the three built, wielded, and held on to their collective power.

Perfect for fans of Mark Leibovich's BIG GAME, Belson provides a unique peek behind the curtain of how America's favorite sport achieved its status--and how these three men let nothing, or no one--stand in their way.

About the Author

Ken Belson rejoined The New York Times's Business section in 2023 to write about the business of sports after spending 14 years in the Sports department, primarily covering the N.F.L. Belson reports on the teams and personalities of the N.F.L., including finances, stadiums, medical issues, lawsuits and more. He lives in New York with his wife. You can follow him @el_belson on X.