NBA fixing: biggest American sports story in recent memory?

[shemp]

Expansion to Vegas is a business decision analyzed on its ability to make owners money. If they are wrongly skittish because of the perceived gambling tie-in it is more about their aversion to risk and lack of imagination (if their skittishness is wrong, and I don't know that).

Among other things, I'm reminded of the problems in baseball and its response and thinking this is comparatively a drop in the bucket-- which gets me thinking about Pete Rose and that mess again...

[Clarkmeister]

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Expansion to Vegas is a business decision analyzed on its ability to make owners money.

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No way. It's ALL about gambling and perception.

The NFL wouldn't even accept TV ads from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority for the Super Bowl.

[kbfc]

It seems to me that one of the biggest aspects of this story is that the quality of refereeing in the NBA is so poor on the whole that an individual ref was able influence games right in front of everyone. Maliciously biased reffing blends in seamlessly with general incompetance. I think it was Assani who defended the refs vigorously, but I don't think I've seen anything from him on this.

I love the NBA, but the refs aren't up to the standards of the atheletes surrounding them. The players are too strong and fast.

I don't know what the solution is, but perhaps some sort of on-the-fly offcourt video help would be a step. There are a number of technical things (3s violation, foot on the 3pt line, etc) that are easily caught from an above-court camera angle. Let the 3 guys on the floor focus on only those things that aren't feasibly judged from afar.

Or we could get a bunch of hot-headed old-timers like Sir Crawford to yell at everyone and make a spectacle of things in some sort of misguided attempt at game control. That's worked so well so far....

[owsley]

[ QUOTE ]
owsley,

Was that written to me? Brah, I read it about 1/2 hour after it was posted, I was trolling ESPN for British Open coverage and saw it. As a Suns fan I want to be outraged about the possibilities but really the whole thing just exhausts me.

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I just thought that if there was a certain game 3 that would come to mind after reading that piece, it likely wouldn't be a one from 14 years ago

[Clarkmeister]

FOUL!

[shemp]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Expansion to Vegas is a business decision analyzed on its ability to make owners money.

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No way. It's ALL about gambling and perception.

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My point is that your claim and mine are not incompatible. What you are saying, in such a framework, is that it is a bad business decision.

[owsley]

right and whether the owners can make money is ALL ABOUT gambling and perception

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Expansion to Vegas is a business decision analyzed on its ability to make owners money.

[/ QUOTE ]

No way. It's ALL about gambling and perception.

[/ QUOTE ]

My point is that your claim and mine are not incompatible. What you are saying, in such a framework, is that it is a bad business decision.

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Well, I think that they think it's a bad business decision. I just happen to think that they couldn't be further from the truth, and in fact, especially for the NFL, it would be a huge benefit.

[tuq]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
owsley,

Was that written to me? Brah, I read it about 1/2 hour after it was posted, I was trolling ESPN for British Open coverage and saw it. As a Suns fan I want to be outraged about the possibilities but really the whole thing just exhausts me.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just thought that if there was a certain game 3 that would come to mind after reading that piece, it likely wouldn't be a one from 14 years ago

[/ QUOTE ]
Actually, I was the first one on this site who "broke" that he was working that game three, but in a different thread. When the word came on Friday I checked out the Suns-Spurs series box scores to see if he reffed any of the games and at the time discovered that he had indeed reffed game three, and I posted about that here. Potentially significant in a series full of "what ifs" for the Suns fan base.

[shemp]

I don't understand the counter argument or if you are even advancing one. Do you think that an owner who thought expansion in Vegas would increase the value of his own franchise would be against expansion?