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Legalization of Sports betting and NFL Officiating

phil fromphilly : 11/23/2014 12:12 am
PFT has a blurb up about the fight to legalize sports betting and the battle that the NFL is putting up to stop it.

From the article:

Quote:
The NFL remains staunchly opposed to legalized gambling, possibly/probably because the NFL realizes that the pressure to improve officiating and to ensure full integrity of injury reporting would increase dramatically with the legalization of sports wagering. Likewise, the federal authority charged with regulating gambling would be keenly interested in any irregularities, including a late call that doesn’t change the outcome of the game but that results in significant dollars changing hands by affecting the application of the point spread.


So the NFL is pretty much acknowledging that their officiating is not that great by fighting this. I really hope it does become legal now so that they are pressured to move to full time refs who spend significant time in the offseason preparing for the coming season.
Cuban calls opposition to gambling “hypocritical” - ( New Window )
Good article  
SJ4good80 : 11/23/2014 12:48 am : link
Not to change the subject but I still can't believe that fanduel and draft kings are legal.
the NFL  
MookGiants : 11/23/2014 12:53 am : link
wouldn't exist without people betting on it. The NFL doesn't want to hear that but the single biggest reason it is as popular as it is is because of gambling.
Silver is slick  
BigBlueBull : 11/23/2014 5:29 am : link
Loving him as a Commish so far. He's going after the NFL the most intelligent way possible. Remember Silver claimed his goal is to have the NBA become the alpha dog during his tenure. Between this issue and the arbitrary handling of discipline in the NFL, Goodell is in bad shape.
RE: the NFL  
section125 : 11/23/2014 7:07 am : link
In comment 11993233 MookGiants said:
Quote:
wouldn't exist without people betting on it. The NFL doesn't want to hear that but the single biggest reason it is as popular as it is is because of gambling.


Ah, no. I doubt 5% of NFL fans bet in a meaningful way on games - and I don't count FF as that is pretty new and the NFL was wildly popular before FF. Yeah we have football pools in many offices, etc, but that is an adjunct to the popularity.
Does gambling enhance the popularity, absolutely. Is it the single biggest reaason, no.
RE: Silver is slick  
section125 : 11/23/2014 7:08 am : link
In comment 11993268 BigBlueBull said:
Quote:
Loving him as a Commish so far. He's going after the NFL the most intelligent way possible. Remember Silver claimed his goal is to have the NBA become the alpha dog during his tenure. Between this issue and the arbitrary handling of discipline in the NFL, Goodell is in bad shape.


Snowball's chance in hell.
Section125 that is an extremely narrow and frankly erroneous position  
bhill410 : 11/23/2014 9:01 am : link
There are approximately 26 million unique fantasy football players and say 5 million people who will make at least one bet a year. That's a shocking number. Furthermore you don't think that red zone and the national tv packages are perhaps slightly more valuable because of interest in the game due to fantasy and gambling? Tv ratings for shitty games are to a large extent driven by this interest for out of market fans. I mean he'll the nfl created Redzone almost specifically for fantasy.

Side note fantasy is not illegal because circuit courts have deemed it to be a game of skill not chance. There are arguments both sides on that one.
section  
MookGiants : 11/23/2014 10:37 am : link
you do realize how much money is gambled on the NFL, both illegally and legally, each year right?

Take that out of the equation completely, and the league may not exist.
I would definitely venture  
dep026 : 11/23/2014 10:43 am : link
that the majority of people watch the NFL today due to betting and fantasy. Hardly anyone outside the fans of those teams was watching Oak/KC Thursday night. How many people are waiting in anticipation in watching Buffalo/Jets tomorrow night?

They arent watching it for the quality, as its by far the worst out of the 4 professional sports. There are still diehards that will watch regardless, but they seem to be dwindling down as the years go on.
we're talking  
MookGiants : 11/23/2014 10:44 am : link
about a number that is likely north of 100 billion per year wagered on the NFL. Eliminate that and the NFL goes up in smoke, and that's not even counting the office pools, fantasy football, etc.
Where do all of these stats  
Blackbeard : 11/23/2014 1:26 pm : link
come from? Will someone come up with some documentation?
In a league this big  
GIANTSinDE : 11/23/2014 3:59 pm : link
and the amount of money in play outside of gambling I still can't believe these refs are part-timers. It's absurd.
Those are big numbers bigger than I thought, but  
section125 : 11/23/2014 4:20 pm : link
I doubt the NFL goes up in smoke without betting.

I agree that betting and FF heighten the excitment for many, but I just don't see it as the reason that the NFL exists.

Not against betting at all and I think it should be legalized, btw.
I don't know about the single reason it is popular  
Some Fan : 11/23/2014 5:36 pm : link
is gambling. There is gambling in all sports. The NFL is just a better spectator / TV sport than the others. That is the single biggest reason. But single and biggest does not really make sense but it is the main reason.
RE: RE: the NFL  
River Mike : 11/23/2014 6:08 pm : link
In comment 11993282 section125 said:
Quote:
In comment 11993233 MookGiants said:


Quote:


wouldn't exist without people betting on it. The NFL doesn't want to hear that but the single biggest reason it is as popular as it is is because of gambling.



Ah, no. I doubt 5% of NFL fans bet in a meaningful way on games - and I don't count FF as that is pretty new and the NFL was wildly popular before FF. Yeah we have football pools in many offices, etc, but that is an adjunct to the popularity.
Does gambling enhance the popularity, absolutely. Is it the single biggest reaason, no.


This ^^
I think  
River Mike : 11/23/2014 6:16 pm : link
the reason for so much betting is that the game itself is popular. The overwhelming majority of fans that play fantasy or office pools do not bet otherwise. Most bettors on football games don't bet on baseball, NBA or horse racing. Most of the fans I know, including me, were avid fans long before the advent of FF or other football bets. And there is no reason to sit for over 3 hours to watch a game just because you bet on it. You can get the final results very quickly, and as far as your bet, that's all that counts. I think the betting does add to more games watched, but to say it's the main reason for the games popularity is a stretch and not consistent with my personal experience.
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