In 1959, Congress conducted hearings into the scandal surrounding popular television quiz shows after it was revealed that producers were rigging the outcomes by giving favored guests the answers to questions.
Congress amended the Communications Act to prohibit the fixing of television quiz shows.
Now imagine a scenario in which a game show contestant’s answer, right or wrong, didn’t matter because the host couldn’t understand or apply the rules.
That might be a bigger scandal because there would be no effort to conceal it. Sanctioned incompetence may be worse than corruption.
Welcome to the NFL 2024.
No one is accusing anyone of providing the answers, or, in this case, fixing games — though that fear remains greater than ever with the introduction of legalized sports betting throughout much of the country.
No, the outcome of many of these games is being decided by incompetence, in full view of fans with the correct knowledge in their possession screaming from the stands and their living rooms.
Every week following league contests, hearings are being held on the radio, podcasts, and, for those still showing up at work, around the water coolers about the latest snafu by NFL referees that led to a warped outcome of a game.
Here we are, nearly a week after the controversial ruling that decided the outcome of the Dec. 30 game between the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions — the overturning of the Lions’ potential game-winning two-point conversion — and the debate is still raging.
Referee Brad Allen called Detroit left tackle Taylor Decker for “illegal touching” after Decker allegedly did not declare himself eligible.
It’s a story that is eating away at the league’s reputation for competence at a time when the NFL’s need for credibility has never been higher.
This credibility gap is at a crisis level and an oblivious NFL appears unwilling to address the problem. As far as the league is concerned, the officiating is better than ever.
Nearly a year ago, during the week of Super Bowl LVII, Commissioner Roger Goodell said, “For us, when you look at officiating, I don’t think it’s ever been better in the league. There are over 42,000 plays in a season. Multiple infractions could occur on any play. Take that out. Extrapolate that. That’s hundreds if not millions of potential fouls. And our officials do an extraordinary job of getting those. Are there mistakes in the context of that? Yes. They are not perfect and officiating never will be. But we’ve also had obviously replay and other aspects that help us address those issues to make sure they’re not something that we can’t correct on the field.”
Like the great Mark Twain once said, “Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable.” The public isn’t buying Goodell’s claim.
If the NFL is going continue to count its millions without accountability to the public, perhaps it’s up to Congress to step in. Hearings on NFL officiating would force the league to invest more and improve the officiating — to take it far more seriously than they do now.
You can roll your eyes and mouth the ignorant rants about Congress needing to pay attention to more serious matters — as if police departments shouldn’t investigate break-ins while unsolved murders remain on their docket. Institutions can address more than one crisis at a time. It’s called governing.
How effective would some congressional oversight be?
The reality for Washington Commanders fans is that Dan Snyder would still be the despised owner of the franchise if it was not for the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearings last year into sexual harassment allegations against the team. Without congressional testimony from former team employees, the NFL does not force Snyder to sell the team.
The reality is that without congressional hearings into steroid abuse in baseball in 2005, there is no Mitchell Report into those abuses and the Major League Baseball Players Association agreeing to stricter drug testing.
And it certainly falls under the purview of Congress to examine the credibility of these games, now more than ever.
Sports Business Journal just reported that 93 of the most watched games on television in 2023 were NFL games. Governments and the NFL are both reaping the rewards of legalized sports betting.
Through November, bettors put up $10.7 billion in New Jersey alone. The state government there takes in more than $10 million a month in revenue from those bets. This is happening throughout much of the country, with legalized sports betting in 38 states.
The credibility of the NFL product is a public policy issue, with the well-being of constituents at stake.
Or do we want to wait for this nightmare scenario, revealed last month by former NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino on the “Awful Announcing” podcast — officials contacted by people attempting to influence play on the field. “We’ve had situations where people were approached,” he said.
That would be a different kind of congressional hearing than the quiz shows hearings. That would be a Michael Corleone kind of hearing.
You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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