Northbrook, Ill. ? All 32 NFL owners seemed impressed by the five finalists for the commissioner’s job when they finally got to see and hear them Monday.

Nothing happened to indicate that Roger Goodell, Paul Tagliabue’s No. 2 man, isn’t the overwhelming favorite to be elected Tagliabue’s successor. That could happen late today, but more likely on Wednesday.

The clue?

Tagliabue and Pittsburgh owner Dan Rooney, co-chairman of the eight-owner selection committee, both said they believe a new commissioner was likely to be chosen during this three-day meeting in suburban Chicago.

The thought all along has been that if a commissioner is elected here it will be Goodell, the NFL’s chief operating officer, but if the process is extended, one of the other four finalists could enter the picture.

Every owner who spoke to the media Monday said the day’s proceedings were harmonious. Each of the five candidates addressed the owners and answered questions for about 45 minutes apiece and the owners said they were impressed by everyone. Then the owners approved 32-0 the voting procedures to be used.

“I think it’s been a very balanced process,” Tagliabue said. “There was no contention. There were different points of view, but nothing out of the ordinary.”

Monday’s meeting was the latest step in a process far more orderly than the one 17 years ago, when it took 31â2 months from this point – the first selection meeting – to when Tagliabue was elected over the late Jim Finks to succeed Pete Rozelle as commissioner. Tagliabue, who announced his retirement in March, tried to ensure things would go smoothly by appointing a search committee representing diverse points of view and team financial situations within the league.

Today, each of the five candidates will spend an hour with four groups of eight owners for in-depth interviews. Each of the eight groups will include two members of the search committee and will be composed of owners with various interests: AFC/NFC or and high-revenue, low-revenue teams all will be included in each group.

In addition to Goodell, the other candidates are Gregg Levy, the league’s outside counsel; Fred Nance, a Cleveland lawyer who helped broker the return of the Browns to that city in 1999; Robert L. Reynolds, vice chairman of Fidelity Investments; and Mayo O. Shattuck III, a financier who was involved in the sale of the Baltimore Ravens by Art Modell to Steve Bisciotti.

The voting could begin this afternoon by secret ballot, with a two-thirds vote – or 22 of the 32 teams – needed to elect a new commissioner. It will be secret at the start.

The owners agreed Monday that if no one gets the required votes on the first ballot, all five candidates will remain in contention for at least two more ballots.

After that, Tagliabue and the search committee will determine if any candidates should be dropped from subsequent ballots, and whether to vote by open roll call.

They also could ask each team to rank the candidates in order of preference or take similar steps in an effort to reach a consensus.