About Professional Sports

FIVE THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

  1. The “Big Four” professional sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL) all possess drafts, anti-trust exemptions and revenue sharing. If the teams within these leagues were truly independent entities, none of this would exist as it flies in the face of the free market companies they purport to be.

  2. While we call these leagues “sports,” they are in fact businesses. Their business is entertainment. The NFL has actually argued this fact before the Supreme Court as recently as 2010. Being “entertainment,” the leagues are legally entitled to do what is needed to entertain their audience, such as the creation and promotion of certain “storylines.” Despite arguments to the contrary, this makes the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL on par with Roller Derby and Professional Wrestling.

  3. The ticket you purchase to a sporting event reflects this notion of sports being simply entertainment. The “Spygate” lawsuit proves this. In this lawsuit, a New York Jets fan sued the New England Patriots for illegally (by NFL rules) videotaping their opponents’ coaching signals. The lawsuit asked for the Jets ticket holders’ money back in 10 years worth of games – the duration of the Patriots “cheating” via this videotaping. The suit FAILED.

  4. There is no law preventing a league from fixing its own contest. The two closest federal laws on the books are the Quiz Show law, which regulates INTELLECTUAL contests, and the Sports Bribery Act of 1964 which does not apply because no “bribery” is involved. The league instructs its EMPLOYEES as to the desired outcome. No one has been arrested for violating the Sports Bribery Act in relation to a professional sporting event – not ever.

  5. It is legal for the media to lie to us all. Not just in the realm of sports, but in every aspect of journalism and mass media.
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    With all of this being true, what then is preventing a league – or all of the leagues – from fixing the outcomes of their own games to maximize profit and revenue which is the very reason why they put on these exhibitions?

    The short answer is obvious: Nothing.
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I thought it was illegal to fix the outcome of an event where there is betting allowed.

It probably is, if you’re a player. Not if you’re the league.

The NBA is owned by Time Warner and it has 265 “executives.” It handles tens of billions of dollars a year, and it’s a rich man’s playground funded by bogans who think they are watching sports contests.

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But that information can be bet upon by league officials in the know. Smells like racketeering to me.

I’m very doubtful that any big 4 major professional sporting event is outright fixed by league management. That would require collusion on the part of players and I don’t see that happening. Now, I have heard and can believe that high ranking league officials will sometimes contact referees or others involved in officiating and “suggest” that they tweak certain rules enforcement… but not just for a particular team or player… for all involved in the contest.

I don’t think it’s possible to have watched Games 4, 5 and 6 of the Warriors-Cavs series and not be shit-sure that “the Fix is In.”

Referees are not independent contractors, D_M…they work for the league and do its bidding.

Sports fans, of course, are understandably reluctant to comprehend what all of this actually means.

What it means is that BD6 has been right all along.

You’re making my job harder, sir.

Of the Big 4 I would say the NBA is the most likely to be fixed. For the NFL and baseball it seems less likely…

I been looking for a newspaper comic strip from a few years ago, thinking Pearls Before Swine, where one character laments that some other Rich Guy’s team just beat his Rich Guy’s team.

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A conspiracy of this nature would be outed by now if it occurred with any degree of regularity. Some disgruntled, attention whoring or opportunistic, book writing involved official would have spilled the beans.

I feel that way about most conspiracy theories… as you’re well aware by now.

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It’s not even a “conspiracy” we’re talking about here. It’s a method and means of doing “business.”

con·spir·a·cy

noun:

a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful.

“a conspiracy to manipulate the results”

If it were a normal method and means of doing business, it would be common knowledge. In fact, there would be books and documentaries on it… not just accusations.

“Later on we’ll conspire
As we dream by the fire
To face unafraid the plans that we made
Walking in a Winter Wonderland”

I wonder, as it were, what plans they had made that were unlawful or harmful.

I fear you’re missing my point, Pollyanna.

What, that you can’t accept that your Warriors are getting fairly and squarely outplayed by the Cav’s? I get it :smile:

They aren’t MY Warriors. :innocent:

I’m just recalling that the last time Curry fouled out of a game was 3 years ago…and that 3 of the fouls whistled on him last night won’t bear up on the videotape. Aside from that, read the thread on last night’s game.

All the fucking Russian runners or sich just got banned from Rio

There ain’t a fucking game on this planet not fixed with the exception of drag racing

I know there are those here who will argue that

But every fucking engine is torn down after the win and no mother fucker on this planet is gona pull 7 G’s off the line and lose on purpose

I will forgo the yawning animal

I argue that auto racing is a sport at all, since one is sitting and holding a wheel.

I see lots of poker on ESPN, so it must also be a sport, yes?

tRHS

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