It's cool with me I like discussion with you, your thoughtful.
If they are selling tickets and getting paid billions by TV stations they would be required to reveal that the game wasn't legit. This would add hundreds possibly thousands more to the pool that would have to be quiet about knowing the games are rigged.
I would argue that they are required to offer a fair game because that's what they are selling. Not providing it, and actually providing rigged games, is fraud. And on a massive scale like no other.
TV stations and everyone else would cover the NFL with lawsuits.
Why would owners and the league take the risk? It would only take one guy coming forward to ruin them financially, disgrace them and their families, and spend years upon years in jail.
And why this makes so sense is this..........they simply don't need to do it.
An NDA like that would never make it to court, this would be too big of a deal. And non competes and NDA's don't mean a thing in a situation like this. You cannot have an NDA over a gigantic series of literally thousands of felony charges between the hundreds of people who would have to know about it, a judge would throw it out right away.
But after all of these decades NOT ONE has even hinted, or dropped info.
Les, during a lawsuit brought by a fan after Deflategate, I think, the NFL argued a) as a single entity and b) that the bearer of a ticket is ONLY being offered a seat to entertainment. A fair contest is not included in the contract established by purchasing a ticket.
While surely this was argued to indemnify the league from rogue actors subverting the integrity of the game, the legal argument ends up positioning the NFL in the very same category as pro wrestling.
Is the league pro wrestling? No.
It is arguing that pro football is “entertainment” which relieves the NFL of any responsibility for a fair contest.
Which brings us to whistleblowers. Since the NFL is not beholden to present a fair contest, then they are doing nothing illegal by fixing outcomes. Thus, if a ref wanted to come forward and say that the NFL is fixed, there several problems.
1) Fixing is NOT illegal for an “entertainment company”.
2) Because most fans mistakenly believe that there is a legal contract for a fair contest, the damages to the NFL would be astounding and actionable. There would be a legit case to sue ANYONE including publishers for billions.
3) the next whistleblower who leads a better life after whistleblowing will be the first.
The bottom line is that anyone coming forward would be like someone who tells everyone at a PTA meeting about a parent who does something gross, but legal. That damage is actionable as both libel and slander insofar as any interviews would be slander and any publication would be libel. Truth does not mitigate this damage and in many cases, the subject being true only augments the damages.
So, let’s say a ref does come forward.
1) He’s immediately guilty of slander since fixing the outcome of an NFL game by the NFL isn’t illegal. He’d immediately be slapped with an injunction against any further public statements. It’s also certain that he’d be violating his employment contract.
2) He’s immediately sued for a gazillion dollars and there no chance he wins.
3) Nothing is ever published since anything published would fall under libel law and would bankrupt anyone who published.
There’s literally no upside unless he’s so distraught that he publishes online and then commits suicide with his only goal being revenge for...whatever.
So, no. There is zero reason we’d ever see a whistleblower.
I’ve argued that it would only take a few in the know, but it wouldn’t matter if everyone knew. As long as it’s not illegal, any ref who would even try saying something would be ruining their lives. For what?
And the lack of a whistleblower doesnt obviate any degree of fixing from shading a contest slightly to outright scripting.
