comment: >
  
  Well argued. I thought the exact same for a while. This past weekend pushed me over the line however.
context: I've been under the impression for a while the NFL does a "light fix" during crucial points of games such as in the penalty calls to keep them closer than should be.  I don't know if it's because of sportsbooks or because they're trying to milk as much "excitement" as they can.  I felt this way about the last super bowl on the Rams last touchdown drive because some of the flags they threw were very ticky tacky. >
  
  In retrospect I completely agree with the rams touchdown drive last Super Bowl being off. Another great one is the no call on the clear pass interference in the 2018 Rams Saints NFC championship game. NFL had been pushing for a while for a Rams Super Bowl win to get that LA market firing and they finally pulled it off last year.
  This “light fix” is the best way for them to do it. You barely even have to verbalize anything or leave any sort of paper Trail, just simply nudge the refs to “play ball” and reward those who do with career advancement. >
  
  Watching Chiefs games regularly if you are suggesting the refs throw flags against the Chiefs to allow the other team(s) to catch up or surpass, then I agree. Or they delay in throwing flags that are obvious. It's like they want the Chiefs to lose. It happens in every playoff game I've watched. No one wants the Chiefs to win. They have, even with some bs flags, but they have lost games they should have won due to bs ref calls. 
  (I'm only agreeing in this case because I haven't watched other games this year, although I've seen it with other teams that the refs seem to be against)
  But also, I'm extremely biased, and i know that, so i could be completely full of bs myself. Also: go Chiefs lol >
  
  thousands upon thousands of people would have to be in on this conspiracy for it to work. but you think you, lowly redditor, are going to break this scandal wide open for us? also, what is the opinion here? if you think this is actually happening then you think this is a fact, not an opinion. >
  
  There does not need to be thousands upon thousands of people involved in this to make it work. 
  All you need is a handful of referees and a higher power like Goodell with a vested interest in the profitability of the league to make this work. The NFL is also an “entertainment company” (look this up, they argued for it in court) which makes this form of manipulation completely legal. Where is the incentive to not do this?
  Mind you, this league brings in $15BN+ in revenue yearly on the back of “drama” and “stars” and storylines. The fact that a sports league has this level of power and earning ability is completely asinine. >
  
  in order to throw a game, the people playing the game need to know and have incentive to lose or win as predetermined.
  many player contracts involve bonuses for wins, do they not? so you need to compensate the losing players differently. off the books. you need accountants to cook those books. 
  you need public relations and lawyers involved in case things get hairy. something being legal doesn't prevent you from getting sued and it doesn't prevent laws from being changed. you will always be on the defensive. 
  you need all the referees involved so there are no disagreements, no equivocation. not just a "handful."
  you need to be able to train all of these people to keep their mouths shut and do everything convincingly. you need acting coaches. 
  you want to run an organization in which only some people know the secret and everyone else is oblivious. but it's foolish to count your chicks that way. thousands upon thousands of people who aren't supposed to know can figure it out and leak that information. so you must count those people as in on it. they might be. >
  
  The scope you are suggesting here is just not necessary. Players do not need to be involved in any capacity.
  Really what you need is 32 billionaire elites who are sharing revenue that have a vested interest in the game’s profitability, a commissioner who is worth $200M (completely ridiculous) and also has a vested interest, a “security team” that the NFL does in fact have, a PR machine that squashes any sort of negativity around the NFL (they have this too), and a few refs who will play ball.
  Does the PR and security team even need to know about this? Not at all. All they need to know is “see bad thing about NFL? Squash.” 
  Is it really that hard to believe that a bunch of proverbial oligarchs could preside over something like this? >
  
  certainly grown quite a bit from
  
  a handful of referees and a higher power like Goodell
  
  also, your post is about all pro sports leagues. or do you think the NFL fixes the other sports too?
  there is so much necessary for this to work, such high risk of failure if it doesn't, and no proof that is happening. all conjecture. the simple explanation is sweaty guys enjoy watching sweaty guys play with their balls. >
  
  I think this is likely done in the NBA and MLB too. The NFL is just a more popular and relevant example at this moment given the games this past weekend.
  The owners absolutely could know about it, they also could not. Goodell effectively acts as a CEO. He works for the owners. His job is to deliver them profits and growth. It is entirely possible that manipulating games to generate storylines is a mechanism to deliver the goods to his bosses and they do not know because the money keeps rolling in regardless. Or they could know about it. Who is to say.
  I encourage you to dig into the NFL’s revenue sharing structure and how these teams actually make their money if you are interested. There is very little incentive from a financial perspective to win games in this league. The teams share all revenue equally (outside of the Cowboys who do not share merchandising revenue). What is good for the NFL is good for every single owner. 
  Whoever is going to drive the storylines and bring them ratings that they can use to leverage for a bigger tv deal is who they would like to see advance to the crucial games. >
  
  Are all sporting games manipulated? Absolutely not. The complexity involved and keeping it a secret is not realistic. 
  Are all sporting games totally fair and clean? Again absolutely not. People cheat. People bribe. People do what ever they can to get advantage. 
  People can try to 'manipulate' outcomes in the sense of taking a dive, or cheating or whatever. That's not a conspiracy that everyone is working together. It is however people not being fair  and in this world? Way it goes. >
  
  That's not an opinion, that's a conspriacy theory. One that loads of people buy into.
  Is it right? No idea. But having watched the NFL playoffs so far, well, if that was fixed to be entertaining, they are doing something wrong. >
  
  Counterpoint. Games where humans need to make split second determinations in highly stressful situations, while also watching people perform superhuman feats is incredibly hard. >
  
  Well argued. I thought the exact same for a while. This past weekend pushed me over the line however. >
  
  Everyone who has lost a sizeable bet in the last quarter of any game has claimed the same. >
  
  Fair play. I don’t even think this is necessarily betting related however. The league manipulation i think is more likely done for tv ratings and cultural capital. 
  From a betting perspective I feel strongly that games are being fixed by players and that this is independent of the NFL manipulation. This does not even have to mean players are “throwing games.” Think for example how easy it would be for an individual player to spot fix a player prop. >
  
  I've been under the impression for a while the NFL does a "light fix" during crucial points of games such as in the penalty calls to keep them closer than should be.  I don't know if it's because of sportsbooks or because they're trying to milk as much "excitement" as they can.  I felt this way about the last super bowl on the Rams last touchdown drive because some of the flags they threw were very ticky tacky. >
  
  In retrospect I completely agree with the rams touchdown drive last Super Bowl being off. Another great one is the no call on the clear pass interference in the 2018 Rams Saints NFC championship game. NFL had been pushing for a while for a Rams Super Bowl win to get that LA market firing and they finally pulled it off last year.
  This “light fix” is the best way for them to do it. You barely even have to verbalize anything or leave any sort of paper Trail, just simply nudge the refs to “play ball” and reward those who do with career advancement. >
  
  Watching Chiefs games regularly if you are suggesting the refs throw flags against the Chiefs to allow the other team(s) to catch up or surpass, then I agree. Or they delay in throwing flags that are obvious. It's like they want the Chiefs to lose. It happens in every playoff game I've watched. No one wants the Chiefs to win. They have, even with some bs flags, but they have lost games they should have won due to bs ref calls. 
  (I'm only agreeing in this case because I haven't watched other games this year, although I've seen it with other teams that the refs seem to be against)
  But also, I'm extremely biased, and i know that, so i could be completely full of bs myself. Also: go Chiefs lol >
  
  thousands upon thousands of people would have to be in on this conspiracy for it to work. but you think you, lowly redditor, are going to break this scandal wide open for us? also, what is the opinion here? if you think this is actually happening then you think this is a fact, not an opinion. >
  
  There does not need to be thousands upon thousands of people involved in this to make it work. 
  All you need is a handful of referees and a higher power like Goodell with a vested interest in the profitability of the league to make this work. The NFL is also an “entertainment company” (look this up, they argued for it in court) which makes this form of manipulation completely legal. Where is the incentive to not do this?
  Mind you, this league brings in $15BN+ in revenue yearly on the back of “drama” and “stars” and storylines. The fact that a sports league has this level of power and earning ability is completely asinine. >
  
  in order to throw a game, the people playing the game need to know and have incentive to lose or win as predetermined.
  many player contracts involve bonuses for wins, do they not? so you need to compensate the losing players differently. off the books. you need accountants to cook those books. 
  you need public relations and lawyers involved in case things get hairy. something being legal doesn't prevent you from getting sued and it doesn't prevent laws from being changed. you will always be on the defensive. 
  you need all the referees involved so there are no disagreements, no equivocation. not just a "handful."
  you need to be able to train all of these people to keep their mouths shut and do everything convincingly. you need acting coaches. 
  you want to run an organization in which only some people know the secret and everyone else is oblivious. but it's foolish to count your chicks that way. thousands upon thousands of people who aren't supposed to know can figure it out and leak that information. so you must count those people as in on it. they might be. >
  
  The scope you are suggesting here is just not necessary. Players do not need to be involved in any capacity.
  Really what you need is 32 billionaire elites who are sharing revenue that have a vested interest in the game’s profitability, a commissioner who is worth $200M (completely ridiculous) and also has a vested interest, a “security team” that the NFL does in fact have, a PR machine that squashes any sort of negativity around the NFL (they have this too), and a few refs who will play ball.
  Does the PR and security team even need to know about this? Not at all. All they need to know is “see bad thing about NFL? Squash.” 
  Is it really that hard to believe that a bunch of proverbial oligarchs could preside over something like this? >
  
  certainly grown quite a bit from
  
  a handful of referees and a higher power like Goodell
  
  also, your post is about all pro sports leagues. or do you think the NFL fixes the other sports too?
  there is so much necessary for this to work, such high risk of failure if it doesn't, and no proof that is happening. all conjecture. the simple explanation is sweaty guys enjoy watching sweaty guys play with their balls. >
  
  I think this is likely done in the NBA and MLB too. The NFL is just a more popular and relevant example at this moment given the games this past weekend.
  The owners absolutely could know about it, they also could not. Goodell effectively acts as a CEO. He works for the owners. His job is to deliver them profits and growth. It is entirely possible that manipulating games to generate storylines is a mechanism to deliver the goods to his bosses and they do not know because the money keeps rolling in regardless. Or they could know about it. Who is to say.
  I encourage you to dig into the NFL’s revenue sharing structure and how these teams actually make their money if you are interested. There is very little incentive from a financial perspective to win games in this league. The teams share all revenue equally (outside of the Cowboys who do not share merchandising revenue). What is good for the NFL is good for every single owner. 
  Whoever is going to drive the storylines and bring them ratings that they can use to leverage for a bigger tv deal is who they would like to see advance to the crucial games. >
  
  Are all sporting games manipulated? Absolutely not. The complexity involved and keeping it a secret is not realistic. 
  Are all sporting games totally fair and clean? Again absolutely not. People cheat. People bribe. People do what ever they can to get advantage. 
  People can try to 'manipulate' outcomes in the sense of taking a dive, or cheating or whatever. That's not a conspiracy that everyone is working together. It is however people not being fair  and in this world? Way it goes. >
  
  That's not an opinion, that's a conspriacy theory. One that loads of people buy into.
  Is it right? No idea. But having watched the NFL playoffs so far, well, if that was fixed to be entertaining, they are doing something wrong. >
  
  Counterpoint. Games where humans need to make split second determinations in highly stressful situations, while also watching people perform superhuman feats is incredibly hard.