NFL is Preaching Integrity with Regard to On-Line Betting? What a Crock.
By Walter Mitchell
For the first time since 2021, the NFL is no longer tied to an official sportsbook enterprise/sponsorship, per the Sports Business Journal:
NFL opens April without an official sportsbook (sportsbusinessjournal.com)
"The final league option on deals with FanDuel, DraftKings and Caesars expired at midnight (April 1, 2026) with none of them renewing, a surprising turn considering the estimated $30B in betting volume the NFL generated last season.
Negotiations are ongoing, NFL EVP Renie Anderson said at league meetings Tuesday.
The sticking point for FanDuel and DraftKings, sources familiar with the negotiations said, stemmed from an increase in the price of official streaming data from Genius, the NFL’s exclusive distributor. Without a deal for official data, sportsbooks are ineligible to sponsor the league or its teams or advertise during games.
Caesars was unlikely to return regardless of the data rates, at least under the structure of the previous deal, which bundled rights to promote both online and retail sports betting and included substantial committed advertising spends. Since dialing back an initially robust national ad campaign in 2022, Caesars CEO Tom Reeg has told analysts to expect those expenses to roll off the books as deals expired.
An NFL spokesman said the league is open to “various league partnership structures.”
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The word integrity, especially in recent years, has never been synonymous to the NFL.
The NFL, time and time again, has proven itself to be an obsessive money-grabber at every turn.
In the wake of their decision to deny Brendan Sorsby of his chance to be given a supplementary draft that in the past has been given to troubled players with, in some cases, more serious problems than on-line gambling, their holier than thou denial letter to Sorsby smacks of the same type of hypocrisy the NFL manifests when on the one hand it pledges to hold the players' health as their #1 priority and yet, on the other hand, it is lusting to keep expanding the league's regular schedule into an 18-game season, while at the same time doubling down on Thursday night games (and other short week games), which for many teams means having to play 2 games in the span of 11 days.
Moreover, of course, there is Roger Goodell's obsession for making some prime-time games available only on streaming venues like Amazon, Peacock, YouTube, that require viewers to pay for the subscriptions.
For out-of-town fans who wish to see their team's weekly games, the NFL has ensured --- for well over three decades now --- that NFL Sunday Ticket be a $400 yearly charge --- first at DirectTV --- and now at YouTube TV.
The NFL is about making as much money as it possibly can. If viewers can't afford it, then as far as the NFL is concerned, "that's tough titty."
Is the timing of the NFL not having an official sportsbook sponsorship for the first time on over 5 years a coincidental factor in the league's decision to deny Brendan Sorsby's request for a supplemental draft?
You bet it is.
Pun very much intended.
You just know that the NFL is seething right now about not having their stake in this year's estimated $30B in betting volume.
In fact, for years the NFL has been counting on college kids like Brendan Sorsby to make as many bets as they possibly can. College kids are such easy prey. They are in many ways the easiest prey of all.
If the thousands upon thousands of college students who place on-line bets every day or at least 4-5 times a week were subjected to the NFL's current holier-than-thou attitude about gambling addiction, then thousands upon thousands of college graduates would be relegated to working at Walmart, Domino's Pizza or Home Depot.
Having on-line betting so readily accessible and yet so supposedly frowned on by the NFL, is like college deans admonishing students for risking alcohol addiction but then hosting open bar mixers sponsored by Captain Morgan and Coors Light in the common rooms of their dorms.
Curious that the NFL hosted a supplementary draft for Josh Gordon in 2012 after he admitted he had never played a college game sober and that for years, going back to middle school, he had been fighting an addiction to alcohol and drugs.
But Brendan Sorsby's application for a supplemental draft is denied?
What the NFL is doing to Brendan Sorsby is unconscionable. Like the now money-ravaged NCAA, the NFL is trying to make an example out of Sorsby to the point of further ostracizing him as a "bête noir".
The NFL had the audacity to claim that Brendan Sorsby has exhibited no "accountability" about his gambling addiction.
That's a blatant lie.
Not only did Brendon Sorsby openly admit to his addiction and owned up to every aspect of it, he also recently spent 35 days at Algamus Recovery Center in Goodyear, Arizona without a cellphone or a tablet in order to begin his rehabilitation.
Which points the finger right back at the ultra-hypocritical NFL with regard to "integrity" and "accountability."
Sorsby's attorney Jeffrey Kessler is suing the NFL and NFLPA for what he considers to be an unconstitutional verdict with regard to denying his client his chance this season to be drafted into the NFL.
That's' a bet that Kessler deserves to win.
For the sake of real, honest accountability.
Good article Walt. The NFL has a "Do as I say, not as I do" policy. Also, making him enter next year's QB heavy draft is additional punishment. In theory, couldn't a college QB have a friend place a bet for them on a game they're playing in? I bet it's happened many times.
ReplyDeleteI think and hope Brendan's attorney is going to win the lawsuit, Jethro.
DeleteGreat post Walt and I agree with you. However, most media believes the NFL is showing integrity by punishing a player who gambles on games. The media consensus is that the NFL shut down the draft precisely to prove that pro football is not an escape hatch for college athletes trying to dodge the consequences of their actions.Major outlets like ESPN and Yahoo Sports align with the NFL's stance that betting on one's own team makes a player "radioactive".
ReplyDeleteGambling addiction is a mental illness-when will our institutions recognize their responsibility to help those afflicted?
Great points. The thing is Brendan Sorsby has not been dodging his actions. And his addiction to gambling is not some sort of social aberration, it is a veritable, nation-wide pandemic. I have adult friends who bet on games every day they possibly can and have been for years. They relish in the preparation and the research they perform. It is perfectly legal so long as one pays the taxes on winnings over the prescribed amount.
DeleteFYI-Jeffrey Kessler is the NFL’s ultimate legal nightmare, possessing a 30-year track record of consistently defeating the league in high-profile labor, antitrust, and player discipline battles. As the co-executive chairman of Winston & Strawn, Kessler is widely considered one of the most powerful and feared sports entertainment lawyers in United States history. His involvement is the sole reason anyone is taking Brendan Sorsby's legal threats against the league seriously.
ReplyDeleteKessler won the 1992 McNeil case to create modern free agency, and completely wiped out commissioner-issued player suspensions in massive league scandals like Bountygate, Deflategate, and the Adrian Peterson case.
Bingo! 61 en fuego!
DeleteThat might make for must watch TV. NFL is heavily invested in legal gambling sport book advertising. Sorsby on one hand was making legal bets on games although it goes against player conduct policy. How does the league on one hand benefit from advertising which creates behavior. Said behavior is then looked at as bad for the league.
Delete"Accountability and integrity" is just corporate speak for "Sorsby is too big of a brand risk." The fact is that if he is a starting QB in the NFL, people will always have in the back of their mind that he might be betting on games. If he is involved in a game that ends up looking like the Cardinals-Titans game last season, where several untimely coincidences lead to a complete reversal betting lines, all the discourse will immediately go to speculation about Sorsby and betting. That may not be fair to Sorsby, but it's also not a PR nightmare the NFL wants to invite. You compared the situation to Josh Gordon, but from the NFL's perspective this is actually more similar to Colin Kaepernick. It's not actually about morality, it's about managing PR.
ReplyDelete