His story begins in the 1960s, when Commissioner Pete Rozelle hitched the N.F.L. to the power of television. Rozelle managed the merger of the N.F.L. and the rival American Football League, added “Monday Night Football” and introduced the Super Bowl, which draws 100 million more viewers than any other single American sporting event. The attorney Paul Tagliabue followed Rozelle, crafting a nuts-and-bolts legacy of revenue sharing and territorial expansion; then came Roger Goodell, the commissioner fans love to hate.