NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has thanked the President. And not in a “Thanks Obama” way. It was a genuine expression of gratitude for President Donald J. Trump.
Via the Washington Post, Goodell said “thank you” to the Commander-in-Chief because the new trade deal with Canada and Mexico helped resolve to the league’s satisfaction a dispute with our neighbors to the north.
The problem arose from the broadcast of the Super Bowl in Canada on CTV. For whatever reason, Canadian regulatory officials forced CTV to include the American commercials, preventing Canadian broadcasters from selling their own ads. This makes the Super Bowl more valuable to CTV, which in turn results in more money being generated by the NFL for its premier annual TV product.
“We greatly appreciate President Trump’s leadership and determination in bringing about a resolution to our intellectual property issue in Canada,” Goodell said in a statement.
At a time when the President has refrained for several weeks from pushing the national-anthem button, maybe there has been a thawing in the broader relationship between 345 Park Avenue and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.