National Football League

Goodell among finalists for Time magazine's 'Person of the Year'

Published Dec. 9, 2014 11:39 a.m. ET

Brett Smiley

On Wednesday morning, Time Magazine will announce its "2014 Person of the Year" from a list of eight finalists that includes NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

The other finalists (in no particular order) are: the Ferguson protesters, the Ebola caregivers, Russian president Vladimir Putin, Taylor Swift, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Alibaba founder and CEO Jack Ma, and Masoud Barzani, the acting president of the Iraqi Kurdish Region.

The magazine's "Person of the Year" is not a popularity contest, as Goodell's inclusion ought to signal. Rather, the award goes to the person who "most influenced the news this year for better or worse" and includes "provocative newsmakers."

Time's blurb on Goodell says that his "leadership has been under great scrutiny this year as the league dealt with public incidents of domestic abuse by players such as Ray Rice, among other controversies."

The past five winners are Pope Francis, Barack Obama, The Protester, Mark Zuckerberg and Ben Bernanke.

If Time's online poll is any indication, in which 98 percent of respondents voted that Goodell should not be recognized, the commissioner probably won't need to prepare an acceptance speech.

[H/T Eye on Football]