NBA Can Look to Other Leagues for Precedents

For those who still believe that the FBI probe of Tim Donaghy's possible involvement in a pointshaving betting scandal that included games he may have officiated in is going to tarnish the league, it's useful to think again. Not one entity that puts up money for the league — whether it is the government, cable television, or NBA corporate partners — has bailed on David Stern and company.

This notion will tell you far more about the state of the NBA than what Stern had to say at a Tuesday news conference. On Monday, the city of Orlando had a chance to express its dismay with the league. But — four days after the FBI probe story broke — the Orlando City Council voted 6–1 to go ahead and spend $1.1 billion on a new arena for the Orlando Magic. The measure now goes to the Orange County commissioners for final approval.

Not one city with a basketball team has said a word about looking into NBA business practices, or has threatened to rework arena leases. These are cities that have put up money to build modernday edifices that provide NBA owners with opportunities to make tens of millions of dollars from revenues generated from luxury suites, club seats, restaurants, and team stores. Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Louisville, and Las Vegas city officials all want their own NBA teams despite all of the documented problems with the league. New Orleans owner George Shinn just sold 25% of his franchise to Louisiana investors, and a Michigan-based group is looking to buy the Portland Trail Blazers.

Neither the Walt Disney Company nor Time Warner is about ready to rip up newly signed cable and broadband deals with the league. As well, ESPN and TNT are ready to distribute NBA games for the next eight years. It is unlikely that corporations that buy marketing partnerships, suites, club seats, and other tickets are just going to stop spending on the NBA product either.

The Donaghy scandal won't destroy the NBA's credibility where it counts, with the money people who finance the league. This is also despite the fact that the NBA has gone through a series of serious public relations nightmares since 2003, including the arrests of 10 players on various charges that year, and the Detroit and Indiana brawl that ended up in the crowd in 2004.

The NBA can rely on the fact that the other major sports have bounced back from previous public scandals. Major League Baseball certainly has not been too hurt by the San Francisco-based BALCO grand jury's hearing of testimony that certain baseball players may have used illegal performance-enhancing drugs, nor has the ongoing grand jury proceedings concerning Barry Bonds damaged the industry at all. MLB survived even though eight players from the 1919 Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. All were acquitted of criminal charges but the eight players were banned from professional baseball for life. Fans in the 1920s quickly turned their attention to the Yankees right fielder Babe Ruth, and the 1919 World Series was forgotten. Baseball has also survived Pete Rose, who was accused of betting on baseball while he managed the Cincinnati Reds in the late 1980s. Baseball fans have long forgiven Rose's indiscretions and he has served jail time for filing two false IRS tax statements. Rose has been permanently ineligible from baseball since August 1989.

Despite all of this, baseball has been raking in cash, and politicians in New York City, Washington, and Minneapolis have cleared the way for new baseball parks that will be subsidized by taxpayer money. Voters in Jackson County, Mo., said yes to a salestax hike to renovate Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. The sport has set attendance records and has new and highly lucrative TV deals from FOX, Turner Sports, and ESPN. Its mlb.comWeb site is a cash cow.

The National Hockey League was also hit with a betting scandal during the past two seasons, but no one seems to have backed away from investing in the sport or exporting the product to Europe. On February 6, 2006, Phoenix Coyotes Associate Coach Rick Tocchet was served with a criminal complaint, accused of financing a nationwide sports-gambling ring based in New Jersey, in which several current NHL players wagered on football games. On May 25, 2007, Tocchet pleaded guilty to conspiracy and promoting gambling, and he is awaiting sentencing. Yet, Tocchet has been forgotten just like Billy Taylor and Don Gallinger, who were expelled from the NHL in 1948 for gambling.

National Football League Commissioner Pete Rozelle was faced with a gambling situation after the 1962 season, involving Green Bay's Paul Hornung and Detroit's Alex Karras, when rumors floated that the pair was betting on games. On April 17, 1963, Rozelle suspended Hornung and Karras indefinitely and fined them $2,000 each. Lions coach George Wilson and five other Detroit players also were fined. Both were reinstated for the 1964 season. In 1965, the NFL — according to polls — surpassed baseball in popularity. The NFL will also survive Michael Vick's legal problems. Eventually Vick will fade away like the eight members of the 1919 White Sox, Taylor, Gallinger, and others.

Nothing can kill the appetite for sports.

The real test for the NBA and its credibility will not come from fans, sports-talk radio listeners and hosts, or newspaper columnists. The league, like the other sports leagues, goes after customers, not fans. They want people to come to games, and as long as businesses are willing to buy bigticket items, as long as politicians keep funding new arenas, and as long as cable TV executives are willing to pay billions for programming, there will be no lasting affect from Donaghy's problems.

If you are looking for morality and integrity, you'd better look elsewhere, because neither is required in sports.

evanjweiner@yahoo.com