On Sat, Aug 28, 2021 at 4:02 PM PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > I don’t think anyone is disagreeing with you Kevin, just that this > conflict has been present for a long time. >
You could be correct… but online gambling has always struck me as inherently susceptible to corruption (more so than a Vegas sports book)… this potential merger/partnership rubs me the most wrongest way. There’s no way it doesn’t end in a predictable scandal > > On Sat, 28 Aug 2021 at 3:58 PM Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I don’t pretend to be a sports fan (aside from Le Tour de France, the >> rest holds no interest to me), but I am a fan of what used to be known as >> journalism. If a sports book is aligned with sports journalists, to the >> point where the outcome of an event can lead to increased or lost revenue >> for both, there is tremendous financial incentive for stories to surface >> favoring one result, smearing individual players, accusations of >> misconduct. >> >> Let’s say an ESPN segment producer sees a quarterback of a given football >> team is accused of something on Twitter. On the even of a playoff game, >> ESPN then covers the story, and people start calling for suspensions after >> more allegations of impropriety surface. As a result, the quarterback is >> removed, and his team favored to win now loses, which results in more money >> for the sports book, which in turn means more money for ESPN. The story >> might be legitimate, but the financial reward taints everyone involved. >> >> Now if the argument is that sports reporters aren’t really journalists, >> then by all means, let the conflicts of interest fly. Or if the contention >> is that ESPN itself isn’t a news gathering organization at its core, again, >> have at it. But if a journalist is financially invested in the outcome of >> something they are covering, it is a serious conflict of interest. >> >> On Sat, Aug 28, 2021 at 2:33 PM PGage <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Let’s not kid ourselves (or let the NFL and their TV partners kid us) >>> gambling, legal and illegal, has always been a huge part of the engine >>> driving big time sports TV ratings, and that goes about 10X more for the >>> NFL. >>> >>> What has waxed and waned is the extent to which they are explicit about >>> this. When I was a kid the pregame shows always had experts making picks >>> against the spread, and during lopsided games the announcers would comment >>> specifically that even though a FG would not impact the outcome, it could >>> change the direction of millions of dollars in bet outcomes. Then they >>> stopped being explicit, but still gave winks and nods in the gambling >>> direction. >>> >>> The rise of fantasy football was touted by some as a way for the NFL to >>> break its dependence on gambling while still driving interest in out of >>> town and blowout games; whether they were ever serious about doing that, >>> all it ever really did was give them cover to provide injury, weather and >>> other information that gamblers wanted, pretending it was just for fantasy >>> players. In the last few years all pretense is gone, with Raiders in Vegas >>> and commercials fir gambling sites during games. >>> >>> One argument for making it explicit is that the NFL and TV partners have >>> a huge interest in keeping things honest, and more sunlight helps them do >>> this. But there have been scandals in the last, and there is way too much >>> money on the table to entertain even a glimmer of a hope that there will >>> not be scandals in the future. >>> >>> On Sat, 28 Aug 2021 at 1:31 PM Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> On Fri, Aug 27, 2021 at 5:54 PM PGage <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> That ship sailed a long, long time ago… >>>>> >>>> >>>> I read this and got confused. Do you mean ESPN's journalistic cred is >>>> compromised? Or that taking gambling money affects them. For the gambling >>>> money, once it was made legal it was clear that everybody was going to do >>>> partnerships. One thing that surprised me was watching CBS Sports HQ on >>>> Pluto a couple of months ago and seeing a show advising about how to bet on >>>> the Olympics. But here we are. In their announcement of new amenities in >>>> Heinz Field, the Steelers said there will be a new betting shop run by >>>> their gambling partner so fans can place bets during games. >>>> >>>> There are parts of sports journalism, like injury reports, that have a >>>> lot more value to gamblers than to casual fans. That has always been there >>>> and will continue to be. >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiGJXeK-09bVubRnxoT8Q1sbMiwmHOmHnEHZ2J7oOFCndw%40mail.gmail.com >>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiGJXeK-09bVubRnxoT8Q1sbMiwmHOmHnEHZ2J7oOFCndw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>> . >>>> >>> -- >>> Sent from Gmail Mobile >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> >> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkY%2BR%2BgZRQL8njY%3DwSqf3ivx0wRG8SjmxDULqwJQX7egxVQ%40mail.gmail.com >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkY%2BR%2BgZRQL8njY%3DwSqf3ivx0wRG8SjmxDULqwJQX7egxVQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- >> Kevin M. (RPCV) >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> > To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4BwBPDH1oF7i1BmXfZm7KnvoCV3Th2baaiekM2d%3DrK5TA%40mail.gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4BwBPDH1oF7i1BmXfZm7KnvoCV3Th2baaiekM2d%3DrK5TA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > Sent from Gmail Mobile > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkY%2Bk9YmKCNhRDj3uAY5s6paggwtQBiNzBrEvuC_t%3DtW4uQ%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkY%2Bk9YmKCNhRDj3uAY5s6paggwtQBiNzBrEvuC_t%3DtW4uQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4Dg_%2B80a0OP%2BpXrSBo9jvj3qm%3DY2a6q5JSdTZMh3H1ozw%40mail.gmail.com.
