NBA > NFL
David Stern saved the nba and now has it set up to be one the most followed sports leagues in the world, matching soccer.
NFL has become a bunch of pansies since Goodell. NFL is all about branding.
Rather than battle you on the interpretation of your post, I'll agree 100% with the bolded point above. Stern WAS a progressive thinker, unlike the subject of this thread. Stern realized the international potential (read: business opportunity / revenue) of the NBA when he was approached with the idea of allowing NBA players to compete in the Olympics. The 1992 Dream Team changed everything globally and Stern and the NBA were at the forefront of it, opening offices around the world and actively developing the sport at grassroots levels in many countries. There is no comparison to what the NBA has done for its sport internationally and what the other major US (or int'l) sports leagues have done for their sports.
However, that does not make the NBA > NFL. Participation wise, basketball is much greater than American football internationally and is approaching soccer, but now we're not talking about the NBA and NFL, we're talking about participation in the sport. So, what else is there to compare besides revenue and viewership, both aspects of the "money" discussion.
I believe you confused your point further by saying the NFL is all about branding. What is branding? Why does any company or organization pay any attention to branding? It's about the money, and you're absolutely correct in saying the NFL is all about the money. They have made this point very clear to the people leading the sport's growth and development internationally. They have 5 offices internationally (Canada, Mexico, Japan, London, and China). They opened an office in China before anyone was playing the sport, but have not done near as much as they could to actually develop the sport there. They have focused solely on the business aspect of "growing the game" (i.e. their business). Listen carefully to what Goodell says about the NFL internationally. It's always about growing the NFL brand, not the game. As I've heard NFL executives say, the NFL is not in the business of putting footballs into kid's hands around the globe. Their job is to grow the NFL business and they are very honest about that.
But getting back to participation in sport. Who is really driving it internationally? Should the NBA be credited with all basketball participation globally? That would seriously understate the importance of international sport organizations like the IOC (and their 200+ national Olympic associations putting money into the sport) and FIBA (and their 200+ national basketball federations putting money into the sport). Basketball has the NBA, IOC/NOCs, and FIBA/NFs financially supporting growth and development of grassroots basketball.
What does American football have? The NFL has put about 1% of their annual revenue into international growth (read: business development) and probably 0.000001% into grassroots development. American football was only recently recognized by the IOC, but still not an Olympic sport like basketball, so the investment from IOC is zero and the NOCs only recently approaching the tens of thousands. That leaves IFAF, the equivalent of FIBA, and their annual revenues are ~150,000 EURO.
IMO, David Stern is a more progressive thinker than Goodell when it comes to international sport development, but Goodell has probably done a better job growing the business of his league in a shorter amount of time. Stern is one of the best commissioners in sports history. The book is unwritten on Goodell, but my feeling is he will be highly regarded, but probably not reach the status of Stern unless he does what's right for the sport, not necessarily business, internationally, like Stern did.
So, how about that Donald Sterling guy? Anyone think he's a racist? 
