Well, Adolf Hitler was the Time Magazine "Man of the Year" in 1938, and he was followed by Joseph Stalin the next year (1939) and again in 1942, so I wouldn't put too much emphasis on the nomination.

The nomination or naming isn't necessarily a positive thing, but simply a statement that the individual in question has affected world events during the year in question - for better or for worse.

Background: obviously well connected

Goodell was born in Jamestown, New York,[4] the son of the late United States Senator Charles E. Goodell, a Republican from New York, and the late Jean Rice Goodell of Buffalo, New York. He graduated from Bronxville High School where, as a three-sport star in football, basketball, and baseball, he captained all three teams as a senior and was named the school's athlete of the year.[5] Injuries kept him from playing college football.[6] Goodell is a 1981 graduate of Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania with a degree in economics

Give him the Nobel Peace prize as well.

I cannot believe that Roger Goodell has been nominated for Man of the Year by Time! magazine. Do people really hate us that much that he has been nominated this year? They cite the fact that he has been in power since 2006 and basically cleaned up the NFL. Well then, where were the nominations the previous years? How strange that instead of choosing the year he comes down on drugs and actual crime, they choose the year he comes down hard on something which has yet to be proven and has been moving goalposts and lying and behind all kinds of shenanigans to do with this. What a smack in the face for Saints fans.