The Death of Honest Sports

Minutes before the Major League Baseball trade deadline on June 15, 1976, Oakland A’s owner Charles O. Finley negotiated two controversial deals. The first was the sale of outfielder Joe Rudi and reliever Rollie Fingers to the Boston Red Sox for $1 million each and the second was the sale of pitcher Vida Blue to the New York Yankees for $1.5 million.

All three players had been key contributors to the A’s three consecutive world championships from 1972 to 1974, but the age of free agency had begun in December 1975, and Finley was afraid that he would lose Rudi, Fingers, and Blue without compensation after the 1976 season. And so, with his team floundering below the .500 mark as the trade deadline approached, Finley pulled the trigger on the three cash deals.

For three days, Red Sox and Yankees fans were thrilled by their new acquisitions, but before Rudi, Fingers, and Blue had a chance to actually take the field, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn voided the deals, stating that they were not in “the best interests of baseball.”

That executive power hadn’t been exercised by a commissioner since 1921, when Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis issued lifetime bans to the eight members of the Chicago White Sox who were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series in exchange for payoffs from gamblers. Ever since the “Black Sox” scandal, MLB has steered a wide berth away from gambling of any kind.

Just ask the now-deceased Pete Rose how seriously Major League Baseball takes a violation of the no-gambling-on-games rule. The all-time hits leader with 4,256 base knocks was placed on the permanently ineligible list for betting on games in which he played and/or managed. As a result, he has yet to be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame… and may never be.

Except for horseracing, jai alai, and a few others, most major sports have followed baseball’s lead by distancing themselves from gambling, legalized or otherwise. However, all that is about to change and the reason is as simple as it is reprehensible: unabashed and unmitigated GREED.

As recently as the 1920s, the world of sports was dominated by amateurs in golf and tennis, and college sports were far more popular than the pro ranks in everything but baseball and boxing well into the 1950s. But gradually, franchise owners, athletes, agents, and advertisers realized that there was a virtually untapped audience of fans ready and willing to plunk down their hard-earned money for the sake of watching or identifying with their favorite team or player.

Fast forward to 2026 and the global sports market is now valued at $417 billion… and growing exponentially every year. But here is the problem, which is also growing exponentially.

Ticket sales, concessions, and parking (the latter two generally lumped together as “hospitality”), only account for $34 billion or 8.15% of total global sports revenue. That’s more than revenues from Pay-per-View ($1 billion), Merchandising ($7 billion), Broadcasting and Streaming Advertising ($12 billion), Sports Video Games ($17 billion), and Streaming/App Subscriptions ($24 billion). However, it is substantially less than the revenues produced by Pay-TV Subscriptions ($49 billion), Sponsorship & In-venue Ads ($52 billion), and Media Rights ($61 billion).

In other words, people who watch sports from home spend more money than those fans who attend the games live. However, all of the above revenue sources are dwarfed by one relatively new income stream: sports betting, which generates a whopping $133 billion annually.

Do you think for a New York minute that the mega-billionaires who own today’s MLB, NBA, and NFL franchises are going to turn down that kind of money? And do you think that the league commissioners – Rob Manfred, Roger Goodell, and Adam Silver – are going to buck the owners who hired them because gambling isn’t in “the best interests” of their respective sports?

Not on your life!

They simply lack the backbone, let alone the moral integrity to stand up for what is right. And so, Manfred, Goodell, Silver and those like them will continue to base their decisions on their own short-term interests instead of on the long-term welfare of their leagues… and their owners will cheer them on while lining their pockets with ill-gotten gains.

It’s no wonder why you can’t watch a ballgame these days without seeing one ad after another promoting DraftKings, FanDuel, or BetMGM… after which they comically and hypocritically warn viewers to bet responsibly and to seek help for a gambling addiction.

That’s like a boozer on a bender warning a social drinker about the dangers of alcohol while trying to sell him a cheap bottle of Muscatel.

Just this year, the NBA and the NCAA were both rocked by point-shaving scandals involving players willing to fake injuries or purposely perform poorly in exchange for cash payments from the Mafia and other criminal elements. Meanwhile, a Hall of Fame basketball player and current coach was caught red-handed serving as the frontman for an illegal gambling operation that included high-stakes poker games.

Money talks – I should say “screams” – but it’s time that the people running professional sports stuff some cotton in their ears and do what’s right… and not just what’s the most profitable or the most expedient. Otherwise, we can soon say goodbye to the concept of our games having honest outcomes.

“For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” I Timothy 6:10 (BSB)