Sports Gambling and League Integrity

[TrueBlue4ever]

So if one were conspiracy-minded, the Conference Finals in the NFL did little to quiet the skeptics that suggest the refs fix outcomes to get their desired match-up for the league’s Super Bowl cash cow. 11 Niner penalties to 4 for the Eagles, plus a blown call on a 4th down conversion that led to the first Philly TD. Cincinnati gets 5 penalties to KC’s zero (OK, 1 declined) in the 4th quarter after tying the game, including 2 that extended drives after failed 3rd down conversions by the Chiefs, plus a referee do-over call on a “that play didn’t count” decision after another failed conversion. At least two or three of those calls were fairy ticky-tack, when equally bad holds by the Chiefs (one on the final punt return for 30 yards, setting up the game-winning FG) were missed or ignored. 

Now I don’t blame refs when my team loses, it is a weak whiny argument 99.9% of the time when the fact is the players, not the refs, determine the outcome almost all the time, and bad calls are a product of the human element of the game rather than “they are out to screw us” excuses fans like to throw out. That said, is it time to ask how potentially close we are to pro sports being illegitimate with the growth and acceptance of endorsed sports gambling by the big leagues? Consider:

…..Baseball already has had a documented rigged World Series because of gambling, and also caught it’s all-time hit leader betting on his team’s games while managing them. Also doctored baseballs and a blind eye to the steroid era cheating to increase offence and draw fans back. 

…..Basketball busted a ref in Tim Donaghy for match-fixing with biased calls to enable a gambling ring, but the LA Laker championship that was a direct result of the cheating was never rescinded. 

…..Hockey has had a ref on hot mike admit that make-up calls are a regular part of how they call the game, and promote gambling sites in commercials featuring not just the best player ever to play the game but also it’s current best player and face of the league. Yet no worry about a conflict of interest?

…..Football has our league making an active partnership with a gambling site for profits, while the NFL has expanded it’s embrace of the gambling industry to talk openly about game odds in its broadcasts and now have a halftime Super Bowl event with Rob Gronkowski which is just a glorified sports betting commercial

This doesn’t even touch on Olympic corruption and proven rigged judging examples  there. So the question is, are sports results at risk of being completely illegitimate when the influence of gambling is growing so fast, and what does that mean for the future of sports? Do the optics of potential unfairness and conflict of interest matter, or will it take another active match-fixing event like the Black Sox scandal for people to care? Or will that even matter with the dollars at stake? And how close are we to seeing that kind of scenario take place again where a team/player/ref deliberately pre-determines the outcome of a sporting event for money gain?

Thoughts?

[Tracker]

History says that its only a matter of time until a player shaves or throws a game. It has happened before and thus will happen again. All you need is a player (typically a star) who has run into financial distress and an entity with enough vested interest in the game outcome and enough money to seduce that player. People are people and money and ego are always in play.