The Spoked B

Posted in Fantasy Sports August 28th, 2007

Could fantasy sports be poised for a scandal?

(note: while things are slow on the Bruins front, I’m going to stray off a bit on a different sports topic)

So as I’m watching one of the ESPN Football Fantasy shows last week, I see sports celebrities making appearances to discuss draft picks and strategies. Cato June (Bucs and former Colts linebacker) is doing a mock draft in the on-air ESPN league and Payton Manning video conferences in to discuss his selection in the draft. And in prior shows (yes, I’ve watched several), Rams RB Steven Jackson made an appearance as did Woody Williams of the Houston Astros. And this is no doubt a sampling…I’m sure there are a lot more sports icons that I’ve missed on other shows.

And it hits me: these people are being awfully brazen about being a part of something that could easily link them to gambling.

Just think about recent events. Rick Tocchet and his involvement in a gambling ring. NBA referee Tim Donaghy and his admission to betting on multiple NBA games. Michael Vick who may never return to the NFL after the recent dogfighting scandal. All of these are gambling scandals that have arisen in multiple sports over the course of recent months.

And gambling is something that the sports world takes seriously…even more seriously than violent crimes. The NFL, for example, is still employing Leonard Little who killed a woman in a drunk driving incident in 1998. However, gambling is a different story because it threatens the integrity of the game. Art Schlichter’s and Pete Rose’s careers ended after gambling charges. Rose may never make the Hall of Fame because of it.

Players have been able to make these TV and radio appearances because their real-life employers have been resting on a flawed premise: that the fantasy leagues their players are involved in have no monetary rewards. C’mon, let’s have a show of hands here. Of those of you who have played fantasy sports, how many have ever played in a pay league where you stood to win money at the end of the year? I’m willing to bet at least 75% of you out there have done it at least once and at least 25% of you do it on a regular basis. And for those of you who do play in pay leagues, you know that that the entry fees are usually on par with the relative income of your group of friends. Some of you may play for $50 a year and some over $100. On that premise, I anticipate that any fantasy leagues involving professional players would have significantly higher stakes due to considerably higher incomes involved. Entry fees in the $1000 or higher range certainly wouldn’t surprise me. You throw in major celebrities like, say, a Terrell Owens, and the stakes may increase exponentially.

But would all this affect the performance of a player? Would a 2nd string middle linebacker on a non-playoff team playing against the Chargers in week 16 intentionally mistackle Ladanian Tomlinson so that he could scamper for a TD…just so his fantasy team could score 6 points in his league’s championship game? Maybe. But does it really matter? The problem is that the answer may never be known…that the question of a potentially tainted play will always be there.

And if something like this does happen, I anticipate it would completely blindside the leagues involved. Not only would it have been happening right in front of them, but they would have been providing the breeding grounds for it. Go to the websites for the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB. Each one offers their own fantasy games.

My biggest fear is what the aftermath would be. I’ve been playing fantasy sports since the late 80’s. I remember doing everything by hand and being forced to wade through boxscores for stats. Over the years, fantasy leagues have become automated and stat processing is done automatically. If a scandal rips through the industry, you may see the leagues put a halt to fantasy sports, or perhaps try to seriously curtail it. Although I doubt it would return to the stone ages, the freewheeling fantasy sports universe we play in may be seriously toned back. One speculation is that online stats might be limited, or the leagues may attempt to prevent them from being used in a fantasy sports environment. If that’s the case, we would no longer have the luxury of having nearly unlimited up-to-the-minute stat updates for our teams.

And for those of us who check our teams at least twice nightly, that would be devastating.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 28th, 2007 at 10:51 pm and is filed under Fantasy Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.