Barack Obama Roger Goodell
 

Barack Obama has already declared an interest in joining the basketball world someday, recently telling GQ that he would "absolutely" like to become a part-owner of an NBA team once his run as POTUS ends.

But the president is no fool. He knows that if he's looking to cash in, basketball might not be the right sport. In that same GQ interview -- conducted by Bill Simmons -- Obama is posed a hypothetical question.

Suppose all the major sports commissioner jobs open up. Which one does he take?

Roger Goodell

"Well, I'm best suited for basketball," Obama says. "But I cannot believe that the commissioner of football gets paid $44 million a year."

That figure looms large beside Obama's $400,000 annual salary as President, and his $7 million net worth. It's hard to conceive that Obama's income is less than 1 percent of Goodell's, but then, America wasn't built on the notion that people's income should be relative to the caliber of their work.

It's worth noting, too, that the figure Obama mentions is a bit dated. Goodell made $44 million in 2012, according to federal tax returns, but that figure dropped to $35 million in 2013. Granted, for most people the difference is negligible: Super rich is super rich.

That's the latest figure made publicly available regarding Goodell's compensation, so it's unclear what he currently brings in. Given the NFL's ever-increasing revenues, the odds seem likely those earnings are trending up.

Simmons tries to bait Obama into a criticism of Goodell, who has been a primary source of Simmons' vitriol -- a heated, well-documented disdain that some theorize may have accelerated Simmons' departure from ESPN earlier this year.

Obama knows what Simmons wants, but he dodges any controversy.

"You're not going to drag me into your fights, man," Obama says. "Come on -- I've got enough fights of my own. [laughs] This is between you and Roger."

But if the NFL does have a future interest in working with the president ... well, when $44 million talks, you listen.

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