WITH SCANDALS INEVITABLE, NFL SHOULD ABANDON THE GAMBLING BUSINESS
Sending a greedy, hypocritical message, billionaire owners are just asking for integrity breaches when sportsbook partnerships and aggressive embraces of the wagering culture lead to policy violations
If the NFL truly cared about the integrity of its product, which last season generated almost $20 billion in revenue, the league would make an immediate announcement. A greedy, dangerous charade would end. “We,” commissioner Roger Goodell would say, flanked by the most prominent team owners, Jerry Jones and Bob Kraft, “are abandoning the gambling and sportsbook business for the well-being of professional football.”
That way, at least America’s most popular entertainment source no longer would profit enormously from hypocrisy. That way, these billionaires can stop pretending they’ll stop the inevitable flood of scandals by sticking fingers in a dam. That way, the NFL can stop depositing fortunes from sportsbook partners, stop running six gambling ads per game telecast, stop taking wagers inside stadiums and stop encouraging gamblers of all ages to bet on every play of every game by pressuring complicit media partners to publicize point spreads and odds … while expecting players, coaches and other personnel to NEVER, EVER participate when they’re bombarded by the same bet-bet-bet mentality as the rest of us in 33 states and the District of Columbia.
A mea culpa? Just stop at “me,” the position of every owner who cares only about an hourly uptick of net worth. That would include Jones and Kraft, both of whom are investors in DraftKings and are promoting the very pursuits the league has banned.
There is no bigger sham in this country than the delusion that the NFL will effectively stonewall gambling activity within its 32 franchises. When everyone has a family member, friend or associate who can open an account — and every day brings new inside information that can lead to quickie payoffs on league-endorsed apps (DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars) — it’s impossible to block the prohibited activity. Seems an epidemic is in progress, which should shock no one in 2023. Our nation’s post-pandemic ripoff mode is alive and not well, and dishonest people everywhere are looking for dirty, little ways to make a few easy bucks. If you think NFL facilities are immune, let me stop laughing and introduce you to Isaiah Rodgers.
He’s off to Goodell’s mixed-message sin bin, the latest player who can expect a robust suspension for violating the league’s gambling policy. Rodgers would be breaking new and particularly disturbing ground — he was on the active roster of the Indianapolis Colts and participating in games when, amid a league investigation of his alleged rampant betting, he is said to have bet on Colts games. That means the NFL is edging into Pete Rose territory, recalling how the baseball legend bet on Cincinnati Reds games as a manager. And while Rodgers is by no means a historic figure in his sport, he did start nine games as a cornerback and returned kicks last season. This sets him apart from wide receiver Calvin Ridley, who was away from the Atlanta Falcons when his bets over a five-week period included action on his own team. He was suspended for a full season.
If Rodgers wagered on the Colts, either to win or lose, he should be banned for life like Rose. A powerful deterrent must be established for thousands positioned to use acquired league knowledge for financial benefit — including hundreds of players who, based on the continuing probes and suspensions, aren’t taking the gambling policy seriously or haven’t studied it much. What stops a cornerback from allowing a touchdown pass if he has money on the game? Or a kick returner from fumbling? Rodgers took “full responsibility” for his activities in a Monday night tweet, but he has yet to provide a full explanation. We need to hear all details, every time someone is busted, because a league that claims to be on top of the situation is inching closer toward Congressional hearings.
“I know I have made mistakes and I am willing to do whatever it takes to repair the situation," Rodgers wrote. “The last thing I ever wanted to do was to be a distraction to the Colts organization, my coaches, and my teammates. I've let people down that I care about. I made an error in judgment and I am going to work hard to make sure that those mistakes are rectified through this process. It's an honor to play in the NFL and I have never taken that lightly. I am very sorry for all of this.”
Sorry isn’t nearly enough when the league sells gambling to a populace that has wagered more than $220 billion on sports since 2018, the year the Supreme Court whipped open the gates to legal sports betting. How can the NFL, in good conscience, dangle that carrot in a nation of gamblers — ranging from the casual to the compulsive — when bets easily can be compromised by players who are betting themselves? First it was Ridley. Then it was five more players, four from the Detroit Lions, who were suspended in April. Now it’s Rodgers, who reportedly used someone else’s account to place around 100 bets, most between $25 and $50 but at least one in four figures. Along with an assistant coach and an undisclosed number of employees with teams, the names of policy violators are piling up. Goodell and his people are spending too much time on this developing crisis after assuring the public that the transition would go smoothly.
The league claims to be monitoring players with elaborate measures, from bet-tracking via an integrity company to geolocation on phones to security networks with sources. It’s an over-the-top challenge when, as we’ve known all along, the owners only care about their sportsbook-fed billions and consider Rodgers and the other wrongdoers to be collateral damage. They’ve turned the players into 24/7 suspects when the league has enabled the sleazy paradigm. Why isn’t Goodell providing regular media updates about how the league is handling gambling? If he thinks he can tip-toe on the sly, it’s only a matter of time before a big-name player is nailed.
And even then, who’s to say his name ever would be released publicly? The league would like us to believe the problem is confined to a handful of rogues. How do we know Goodell isn’t playing hocus-pocus, protecting the stars who gamble while performing public-relations surgery with smaller names? Fans didn’t blink when the NFL issued indefinite suspensions to Lions receiver Quintez Cephus and safety C.J. Moore, along with Washington Commanders defensive end Shaka Toney, for betting on league games. Nor did they care much when Lions receivers Jameson Williams and Stanley Berryhill were suspended six games for betting on non-NFL games from an NFL facility.
But the Rodgers news is too close for comfort, suspicious all the way to the name of the gambling site that broke the story, SportsHandle.com. How would you like to be in Indianapolis today? After a tumultuous few seasons, the Colts were counting on a fresh start under first-year coach Shane Steichen and rookie quarterbacking project Anthony Richardson. Now, without a regular corner after trading Stephon Gilmore, is their season already behind the 8-ball as embattled general manager Chris Ballard tries to avoid the wrath of a mood-altered owner, Jim Irsay?
The league hopes that an offseason release of these troubling tales will lead to a collective shoulder shrug. Like the concussion crisis, the Colin Kaepernick crusade and the personal conduct policy, gambling is just one more temporary issue, Goodell figures, that will be forgotten when camps open in a few weeks.
The difference is, we weren’t blitzed six times every game by commercial reminders of CTE, sideline kneeling and player arrests. Never insult an audience’s intelligence or patience level. At some point, people will start asking when the joy of organized sports competition was swallowed by the slime of an alternate universe. This time, it’s Isaiah Rodgers. Next time, what if it’s a more famous Rodgers?
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.