NFL Adds Government-Relations VP to Roster
Jeff Miller joins National Football League; had been chief counsel, staff director for Sen. Herb Kohl.
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/1/2008 6:20:00 AM MT
The National Football League tapped a longtime Democratic Hill staffer as its vice president of government relations and public policy.
Jeff Miller joined the league from his post as chief counsel and staff director for Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and the Senate Judiciary Antitrust and Business Subcommittee Kohl chaired.
It will be the first time the NFL has had a full-time staffer "solely dedicated" to D.C. issues, according to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy.
McCarthy said the impetus for a full-time staffer came from commissioner Roger Goodell, whose priority is to "enhance our public presence in Washington." McCarthy added that Goodell is the son of a U.S. senator and appreciates, "perhaps more than most," the importance of pitching the NFL's positions on the Hill.
In his Hill post, Miller dealt with media, Internet and consolidation issues, as well as Kohl’s legislative initiatives on intellectual property and antitrust.
Judiciary is a key committee for the NFL, since that is where any rumblings about revoking the league's antitrust exemptions begin. In 2006, for example, then-Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) threatened to try to yank the exemption over the issue of access to sports programming and exclusive deals.
Miller will head up federal legislative and public-policy initiatives, as well as working with teams on local and state issues.
Milwaukee native Miller is also former counsel to another Wisconsin Democratic senator, Russ Feingold, as well as to former Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Marty Meehan.
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