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Stern seems to have softened his stance on gambling.
What does it all mean?
Aside from the speculative stuff (the NBA might want a team in Vegas, the NBA sees sports betting opening up in places like Delaware and is being proactive, this is part of the strategy to respond to Tim Donaghy, the Commissioner is or is not speaking for ownership…), Mr. Stern is saying two things: one’s loud and clear, and the other is implied.
First, he is acknowledging that part of the NBA’s popularity is based on gambling. It’s something we all knew already, but it’s refreshing to hear a league commissioner come out and say it. I won’t hold my breath for Roger Goodell, Bud Selig or their successors to say the same thing about their sports, but it may happen in our lifetime.
Secondly, Mr. Stern’s seeing how a large, legal betting market can help keep his sport as clean as it can be. As much as the NCAA supposedly disapproves of gambling on games, it has side door relationships with Vegas casinos and off-shore bookies to be alerted to unusual betting activity.
This last element isn’t all that simple. Europe has legal soccer betting and matches get fixed over there all the time. Sometimes it’s for money, sometimes it’s just one club rolling over to do another club a favor. Low profile matches are fixed routinely. European Cup semifinals and finals have also been bought. But baby steps are being taken to minimize the problem.
Tim Donaghy was busted very much by accident. The NBA needs all the help it can get ferreting out point shavers and crooked refs. If anyone thinks Donaghy acted alone and was the only cheat - they’re crazy. A widespread gambling scandal would hurt the NBA immensely come time for TV contract renewal. Both the WWE and the NBA draw huge crowds at the gate. There’s a reason why the NBA has a massive TV contract and the WWE does not. Post Donaghy, most of us still think most of the games are on the level.
Bookies, too, want honest sport. Maybe that surprises you, but it’s true.
That’s a topic of its own, maybe I’ll get into it next week, but the upshot is that bookies make much more money on honest games than on crooked games. If the games are thought to be fixed, the customers dry up.
What does it all mean?
Aside from the speculative stuff (the NBA might want a team in Vegas, the NBA sees sports betting opening up in places like Delaware and is being proactive, this is part of the strategy to respond to Tim Donaghy, the Commissioner is or is not speaking for ownership…), Mr. Stern is saying two things: one’s loud and clear, and the other is implied.
First, he is acknowledging that part of the NBA’s popularity is based on gambling. It’s something we all knew already, but it’s refreshing to hear a league commissioner come out and say it. I won’t hold my breath for Roger Goodell, Bud Selig or their successors to say the same thing about their sports, but it may happen in our lifetime.
Secondly, Mr. Stern’s seeing how a large, legal betting market can help keep his sport as clean as it can be. As much as the NCAA supposedly disapproves of gambling on games, it has side door relationships with Vegas casinos and off-shore bookies to be alerted to unusual betting activity.
This last element isn’t all that simple. Europe has legal soccer betting and matches get fixed over there all the time. Sometimes it’s for money, sometimes it’s just one club rolling over to do another club a favor. Low profile matches are fixed routinely. European Cup semifinals and finals have also been bought. But baby steps are being taken to minimize the problem.
Tim Donaghy was busted very much by accident. The NBA needs all the help it can get ferreting out point shavers and crooked refs. If anyone thinks Donaghy acted alone and was the only cheat - they’re crazy. A widespread gambling scandal would hurt the NBA immensely come time for TV contract renewal. Both the WWE and the NBA draw huge crowds at the gate. There’s a reason why the NBA has a massive TV contract and the WWE does not. Post Donaghy, most of us still think most of the games are on the level.
Bookies, too, want honest sport. Maybe that surprises you, but it’s true.
That’s a topic of its own, maybe I’ll get into it next week, but the upshot is that bookies make much more money on honest games than on crooked games. If the games are thought to be fixed, the customers dry up.