NEW YORK -- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been given a new five-year contract as the league heads into a key period of labor negotiations that could lead to a work stoppage in 2011.

Goodell replaced Paul Tagliabue on Sept. 1, 2006, and his contract was due to expire this September. The NFL said Friday that owners voted to award the new contract when they met in December, and Goodell's new deal runs until March 2015.
"We're going into a major negotiation," New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said during a telephone interview. "It will be very difficult probably in many ways, and we want to have someone who has his own views, who's going to have to make some hard decisions that maybe some of us won't like.

"But in the end, I think we're confident that he and his team will do what's for the best long-term interest of the league," added Kraft, who's a member of the league's compensation committee. "Having stability in our management team is critical."

Goodell's new deal and the NFL's latest federal tax filing were first reported Friday by Sports Business Journal, and the league then released the information to The Associated Press.

Next season, the last under the current agreement, is on track to be played without a salary cap. NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith said last week that the union views the chance of a lockout as a "14" on a