>> i think paul tagliabue is doing a fine job as nfl commissioner but i look forward to the day he decides and i very much think the best job in america has to be nfl commissioner. >> okay, so it is time for a woman at the held system? should roger goodell step aside for condoleezza rice? >> the focus here ought to be not who's running the nfl but what is she or he doing. and roger goodell can do the right thing here by stiffening the penalties and changing the culture. remember, the ravens put janay rice on a platform to apologize. that is classically what victims do -- blame themselves. and the courage and stlaeng is required to break this cycle -- >> but maybe, senator, a woman in charge of the nfl might have realized that and it may not have happened? >> that may well be and if that's the reason condoleezza rice becomes nfl commissioner, not that it's her dream job, all the better. but i have great respect for her. i think that the present leadership of the nfl should be required to do the right thing. >> senator richard blumenthal, thanks so much for joining me. i appreciate it. i'll

this, they already have that precedent from the saints from bountygate, where they went to paul tagliabue and he certainly in this case -- i mean, in that case, you could have said it was too harsh of a punishment. in this case, because of the murkiness involved, he has to. >> let me bring it to another level. last week, 16 female senators sent a letter to the nfl demanding a zero tolerance policy. and this weekend, one of those senators, kirsten gillibrand had tough words for roger goodell. listen to this. >> i think the way the nfl handled this was awful. it was outrageous. we are now looking to the commissioner to enforce a zero tolerance policy, given the recent debate, if he's lied, if he lied to the american people, then he has to step down. because he won't have the force of authority to change how they address these issues. >> goldie, in the end, how do we force change in the nfl? >> i think a couple of things i disagree with here, with senator gillibrand. first of all, a zero tolerance policy would mete out the same punishment to everybody, despite mitigating circumstances. it's

. >> when paul tagliabue was the commissioner of the nfl, roger goodell was his deputy, and the deputy position was created specifically for roger goodell. i don't know if he has a deputy. >> i'm not aware whether he has a deputy or not. the person people are talking about if he were to step aside or be forced out, former secretary of said state condi rice who said her dream job was nfl commissioner. wouldn't be a bad person to step in if is in all falls apart for roger goodell, begin she is a woman, given her stellar record in public service. >> one of the surprising things to me -- jim gray is with us, right? jim gray, fox sportscaster, news contrd program. jim, surprising thing to me has been our the on ticks have played against the leak. roger goodell came out from the early going of his tenure and said we are not going to tolerate bad -- and yet he knew this happened, but even before the video, and gave a two-game sponge, and then since then, i think most analysts would say they have just bungled the pr >> it's been awful, and it's certainly -- you couldn't foresee this coming. ro

the law firm employs the former nfl commissioner, paul tagliabue.t hired a former deputy assistant to president obama who will now head the nfl's d.c. operations. sheila krumholtz says the nfl's 20 or so lobbyists are all pro. >> almost all of which are former government employees, former hill staffers, so they have good access by buying the help of people who know how to navigate congress. >> reporter: why so many lobbyists for the national football league? >> i have no idea. i think that's a question that aught to go to them. >> reporter: senator tom coburn who has railed against the tax-free status of the nfl, the pga, the national hockey league and other sports leagues, has introduced a bill to get rid of the tax breaks. his pro sports act, he says, would save taxpayers millions. >> 10 million or so. >> probably $110 million over the next ten years. but the point is why should they have that? every dollar that's not paid in taxes by that league office is a dollar that everybody in your state's actually having to make up for. so it's stealing fro