Do you think the NFL fixes games?
With how much people are saying it is I am starting to question my own beliefs. What do you all think? Seems like twitter explodes after every NFL game, World Cup game, etc.
btw, I am not salty about the Super Bowl. I was going for the chiefs anyway just curious what some of you all think
No.
NFL? No. NHL? No. MLS? No. FIFA? You're going to have to spend some time convincing me otherwise honestly. NBA? I'd bet money plenty of games are, which I get is an ironic choice of words.
Hurts fumbled for a TD. The holding penalty is irrelevant
Either they fix games or it's gross incompetence, pick one.
Has to be gross incompetence. Refs are bumbling idiots - I wouldn't even trust them to fix games correctly.
NFL is allegedly classified as a sports entertainment business. The same classification as the WWE.
I became very suspicious of the NFL with how the Saints won the Super Bowl after Hurricane Katrina. It just seemed too coincidental.
Michael Franzese, a mobster, gave a great interview on how he used to work with players to fix games. With the amount of betting action every week, there certainly is influence to predetermine the outcome. It’s not throwing games outright, it’s throwing the spread.
Tim Donaghy was outed as a rogue NBA ref who acted entirely alone in his betting. I find that hard to believe. Officials are human and can be influenced, coerced, or incentivized to favor certain teams. Tim mentioned in an interview once how he was told to back off calls on the stars. No one will be happy seeing MJ, Kobe, or Shaq benched.
I too felt that same way during Saints SB win.
Also last year, with Rams having new stadium, in new major market NFL has been openly eyeing for years, getting a similar holding call down stretch to win. Just very suspicious. And going into this years Super Bowl if you asked any casual fan who the NFL would want to fuck over it would be the Eagles
Now I dont think outcomes are pre-determined or anything like that. If a team is winning running away not much refs can do. But in a tight game, which most pro sports games are, refs can basically determine who wins vast majority of the time. John Madden used to say holding happens every single play, its up to the ref when to call it. The first time it was called in both this years super bowl and last years super bowl was on a very very flimsy play, with under 2 minutes left, and the team that received the benefit being the team the league would prefer to win.
I dont believe in coincidences.
Being up front, I’m a Chiefs fan.
I had some interesting thoughts on the call last night. Up front: terrible call, gotta let the boys play there.
Reason for my thoughts: I ref’d hockey growing up, and still do on occasion. I’ve ref’d men’s league games, AA youth games, and even “ref’d” mites.
A common thing in hockey refereeing is ‘owing’ a team one. “Hey we missed that, we owe them one,”. “Hey we shouldn’t have called that, we owe them one.” These are very real conversations held between officiating crews even at the NHL level. There have been mic’d up instances, and refs have spoken on it once they have retired. Not saying this is right, but providing color.
I saw Juju get held probably two or three times throughout the night, only one time did it directly interfere with a play, he was visibly mad, you all probably remember it. They announcers mentioned that the refs missed it, and I looked at my wife and said “I guarantee you, if Juju keeps getting held, they’re going to give him one back for that.”
And there it came, at an incredibly pivotal moment of the game. Terrible time to give them one back, but one of those things that in my mind, I saw coming, just wasn’t sure when.
Franzese's interviews are great (his criminal story is also insane - guy may have been the richest Mafioso outside of Al Capone at his peak).
To answer the OP, I always thought all American sports are to an extent. After watching a handful of NBA playoffs series in the early-mid 2010s, I grew skeptical by how many calls the 'popular teams' got.
This is some good stuff, thanks for the info
Anyone catch the Rihanna scratch 'n sniff? What was that haha
100% I'd bet some games are fixed even if it's not the league itself doing it.
There are magnets in all the balls.
All jokes aside, yeah, I think all sports leagues do their best to build up specific teams and players. It only makes business sense to do that. It's no secret that certain players and teams get all the right calls, protection, free agents, draftpicks, etc. You couldn't touch Jordan in the 90s; Kobe used to get away with manhandling players on D, Lebron gets away with a lot of traveling and stuff, I saw a ref block a defender from touching Brady while the play was still on, etc. Some markets are worth more than others, and some players are just too valuable. In regards to the Super Bowl, I think the NFL needs to build up their next QB now that Brady is on his way out, and Philadelphia made it too easy for the refs to hand the game over to the Chiefs with that call. They would need to blow them out or risk losing like that. It sucks, but sports is a business first. I expect Mahomes to end up with a bunch of rings before his career is over. That's just my two cents.
The holding call in the super bowl really wasn’t that bad. A lot of people freeze-framed the wrong frame. It was the jersey grab a second earlier. Not an easy call but not a bad one either.
”Let them play” guy fails to understand that if you swallow the whistle, the quality of play won’t be what you’re used to.
Anyways I don’t think leagues fix games, I know two senior NFL ppl and they both say it feels like working directly for 32 different bosses (the owners). So it would take a lot of cooperation to fix games.
I do think refs and players sometimes in trouble with the mob and try to tilt results. Especially college players on good teams who only need to stay under the point spread.
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