1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Thursday “Big Time Leaders-Big Problems”
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“Big Leaders-Big Problems”
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They are the leaders, they are paid a lot of money, they run big time businesses, and they have lots of issues to deal with.
Roger Goodall, Rob Manfred, Gary Bettman and Adam Silver, the commissioners of the big sports, are dealing with crisis situations.
NFL:. .TV ratings have tumbled 17% over a two year span. Attendance has dropped too. And the league is reeling under the weight of two years of combat and controversy involving the players public stance on social injustice issues in society. The red-white-blue has been caught now in the vice of black-vs-white issues across America. And there is no solution, now with the league renewing the dispute by stating players must stand or remain the lockeroom during the anthem. Add this onn-going oil fire to the already stained credibility of the league, over the concussions lawsuit, violence on the field, the on-going injury issues, and a likely bitter fight coming wth the Union. For Roger Goodell, a contract extension in his pocket, the controversies, aren’t going away, just piling up.
MLB…The game has rallied in the last decade, revenues are up, so is attendance, and the postseason is electric. But there are problems with the style of the game, the length of the game, and the never-ending issues about PEDs, the black market of drugs. As the landscape of the game has changed, metrics, analytics, have taken over the game, just in the last four years. Home runs and strikeouts are dominating the conversation. Is the ball juiced? Is the game too long? Should we change rules to take the shift out of the game. Has ‘veto’ and ‘launch angle’ overwhelmed the game? Rob Manfred needs to tread cautiously going forward, not to impact the competitiveness nature of the game by changing rules that impact strategy. And a decade later, no one has solved the stadium crisis in Oakland and Tampa Bay, the sick franchises still in operating.
NBA….They’re all making a lot of money. The dream team concept still exists, and those teams are the ones playing into spring in the post season. The union will not give back the idea of ‘max contracts’ . Of greater debate comes now the future of the ‘1-and-Done’ rule in the draft, with a general consensus the young players needs to stay in college longer, and not look just for the big payday. Adam Silver has a good thing going, and tinkering is all that needs to be discussed.
NHL….The league has hit a jackpot with expansion into Las Vegas. Big money. An electric following in a new city. Still to come, the next expansion, into Seattle. There are still ailing franhises though, Arizona, Carolina, Florida, and there are still vacant markets, Quebec City, Hamilton, that could helps solve that problem. Arena issues in Calgary and Phoenix are still unresolved. . But the NHL is facing something even more severe, a huge concussion lawsuit. Even worse is the public statement of NHL leadership that says there is no connection between concussions to hockey players, fighting, and CTE, despite all the research done by Boston University on deceased athletes. Call it denial or stupidity, but someone is going to pay a severe financial price when this is all done. Gary Bettman may have done great things in leading the NHL back into enormous popularity, but it appears he is doing a terrible disservice to the sport and the players, with his stance on CTE. Trouble is looming on and off the ice.
BIG PICTURE….And if each of the leaders isn’t dealing with enough, just think, here comes the Supreme Court ruling on gambling on all sporting events, state-by-state run. The big leaders make big money, and they all have big issues to deal with going forward..
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