Do you wonder if the league is fixed?

[The Frankish Reich]

These posts are all over the place. Just skimming the pages, I get:

- Individual officials or even players may be gambling on the NFL and deliberately impacting outcomes

- There may be a conspiracy among the NFL and/or officials to favor certain teams and/or results of certain games. This may be to keep records bunched closely together to keep fans involved, or it may be to elevate certain teams to the playoffs and/or the Super Bowl

- NFL leaders may be talking to officials during the course of the game to encourage them to call more/fewer penalties against certain teams.

 

There is no evidence for any of this. All I see is that officiating is supposed to be bound by strict rules, but that the application of those rules in individual games is always subjective and plagued by apparent errors.

I'm not even seeing something like this from the NBA:

 

https://theathletic.com/5084943/2023/11/22/chris-paul-scott-foster-ejection/

 

Namely: NBA ref Scott Foster obviously has something against Chris Paul.

[Teddy KGB]

12 hours ago, LeGOATski said:

Yeah, Vegas is ruining pro football like it did boxing. Just watch it for entertainment, but have low expectations regarding the season's outcome. Support the USFL/XFL to at least pressure the NFL's monopoly.

lmao this is real ? 

[SouthernBuffaloBill]

There should be an investigation into these awful calls. It's league-wide. Coaches and players can't call them out in press conferences because they'll get fined. It's a corrupt system.

 

The spread is 3.5; Philly wins by 4. Coincidence? The NFL is a joke. #Fixed

[Alphadawg7]

LOL...No, absolutely not is the league "rigged".  The league has an immense value over $100 Billion dollars, and that value is predicated on its integrity.  There is abosolutely no way the Billionaire owners or anyone else is going to let the league gamble on rigging games or affecting outcomes and jeopardize the value of the league and the multi-billion dollar teams owned by those billionaires.  

 

Now, the officiating is terrible...no doubt.  There are things that must be addressed...no doubt.  And there are always possible scenarios where refs don't call games straight for personal reasons (gambling, like/dislike of teams/players, etc) in any sport, there is no way to eliminate that possibility, only the ability to act swiftly when discovered.  

 

But I will say, the refs Sunday called that game like they all bet their house on Philly.  It was that egregious.  But I think it was just another case of very poor officiating.  

[nedboy7]

Of course not.  I mean there is hardly any evidence of fixing sports thru history in any league.  And with millions of dollars on the line I dont see any incentive to fixing games.  We all know the world is run by billionaires of integrity with the utmost respect for the game and fans. 

By the way.... "poor officiating" is the exact narrative you would want to create to be able to wipe away any doubt about why a certain game is called the way it is.  But the NFL clearly takes this issue seriously and trains and hires full time refs for their Billions of dollars of investments. 

Edited November 27, 2023 by nedboy7

[The Red King]

I think part of it for me is that while officiating has been bad for awhile, this season seems quite a bit worse then last season.  And I don't neccisarily think it's a case of this team or that team overall, but how the league wants things to play out week to week based on trends, ratings and gambling lines.

 

I'm not saying I know something for certain.  Just saying things don't look right this season, all around.

[DrBob806]

2 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

Why should homefeld be important ?

 

Just rig the playoff game to get them into the SB

Bingo. Let's analyze one of the NFL darling teams if we may....

 

It's weird to me. Back in the 70s when the Steelers had a dynasty' they got many many favorable calls. Their D was tough as nails, promoted as such. They damn near killed Kenny Stabler a few times, but that was deemed "ok." My hunch is the NFL wasn't ok with Miami being the team to beat. 

 

Fast forward to the 1990s, Steelers host 5 AFC Title games, only win 1. 2000s, they "win" the SB vs Seattle in the most biased officiated game in SB history. Blatantly obvious that was rigged. 

 

Fast forward to today's NFL, TJ Watt does whatever he wants, rarely penalized. Punches QBs, twists linemen's legs....yet his team sucks. I'm not a gambler, but my guess is Draft Kings, etc., has player odds on him weekly. 

 

So, same team, different outcomes, different scenarios, different players. Kind of weird, isn't it?

[TheFunPolice]

I don't think it's "rigged" in the WWE sense where Roger is a McMahon figure drawing up a script backstage. 

 

But it would be SO EASY to sway a game. Just throw one timely offensive holding penalty or illegal contact or defensive holding. 

 

By timely I don't mean "in a big moment." It can be as simple as wiping out a 12 yard run in the 1st quarter to take a team from the 30 to the 18 in the Red Zone. Instead of 1st and 10 at the 18, it's 1st and 20 back at the 40 yard line. You can call holding on any play, as they say. 

 

That changes the entire complexity of that drive for the offense. Playcalling, strategy, everything. Ditto for the defense. 

 

Suddenly it's a passing down and an OL flinches knowing an all out blitz is coming.

 

Now it's 1st and 25 at the 45. 

 

Probably takes points off the board, and most of these games are close. Best of all, nobody will even remember it by the end of the game. 

[dickleyjones]

14 hours ago, The Red King said:

(Please don't merge this with the thread complaining about the Bills/Eagles officiating.  This is different, with wider scope, and not limited to the Bills.)

 

There have always been suspicions that the NFL is fixed, but this year seems almost blatent.  There have been a ton, a ton of badly officiated games this season, and not just involving the Bills.  The NFL is in bed with Vegas and the gambling apps, that much is fact.

 

So, my question is, what do you believe?  I don't believe the league is outright scripted.  But I do believe they have preferences, and are not afraid to unleash the officials to get the outcomes they want, based on trends.

 

I hate to be that guy.  I hate to think about conspiracy theories.  But the officiating all around the league has been laughably bad/questionable the whole season.

No. And if so, to what end?

[TheFunPolice]

I think it comes down to the highly subjective nature of many penalties, how emotionally charged the games are because there are so few per year, and how close the games are so every drive matters. 

 

The league has nothing to gain from choosing winners and losers. Aside from 2 superstar QBs meeting in the Super Bowl, or some other unusual circumstance it makes little difference to the league who wins. If the Falcons and Steelers somehow made it through this year's playoffs people are still going to watch that Super Bowl by the millions. 

 

Individual refs might be swayed by circumstance though, even if it's not in an attempt to be corrupt. 

Edited November 27, 2023 by TheFunPolice

[Big Turk]

16 hours ago, The Red King said:

(Please don't merge this with the thread complaining about the Bills/Eagles officiating.  This is different, with wider scope, and not limited to the Bills.)

 

There have always been suspicions that the NFL is fixed, but this year seems almost blatent.  There have been a ton, a ton of badly officiated games this season, and not just involving the Bills.  The NFL is in bed with Vegas and the gambling apps, that much is fact.

 

So, my question is, what do you believe?  I don't believe the league is outright scripted.  But I do believe they have preferences, and are not afraid to unleash the officials to get the outcomes they want, based on trends.

 

I hate to be that guy.  I hate to think about conspiracy theories.  But the officiating all around the league has been laughably bad/questionable the whole season.

 

I mean after watching the Browns-Colts game where they literally forced the Browns to score by handing them something like 15 chances to score from inside the 10 yard line with 4 defensive penalties on the Colts, one nullifying a turnover by the Colts, nothing would surprise me.

 

I don't think I ever remember refs factoring in late in the game like they have this year so often...every game this year seemingly has late defensive penalties called that help a team drive down and score.

[KingBoots8]

 

Tom Grossi (National Treasure) has summed it up perfectly for us.

[bobobonators]

I really appreciate threads like this. It makes me realize how many of you live in an alternate tinfoil reality and need to be blocked. 

[Búfalo Blanco]

Here’s my opinion.. Do I think the NFL is “rigged”? No.. That type of vast conspiracy wouldn’t remain quiet.

 

Do I think there are certain games which the NFL attempts to keep close by using officiating? Absolutely.. The intent to create parity is pretty obvious at times. 
 

Do I think they meddle with every single game? No.. again, that’s too wide a conspiracy to keep quiet. Do I think certain games they attempt to nudge with penalties to keep things close or occasionally try to “push” an outcome how they wish it to go? Yes, sometimes.. not always. Whether that’s for Vegas/gambling, etc. or for favorable outcomes, to create certain playoff scenarios, I’m not sure.. but I do believe they occasionally attempt to meddle with outcomes. Might not always work to plan, but it is sometimes attempted.. 

[PromoTheRobot]

If it is fixed, the league ought to be helping Pegula out. A Super Bowl win would sell a lot of PSLs.

[Heavy Kevi]

I don't believe the NFL is fixed.

 

But I do believe refs carry personal bias into their officiating decisions.

 

It's certainly possible (maybe even likely), that certain refs have been actively corrupt at some point or another.

 

But successfully covering up a larger scheme seems unlikely.

[Nelius]

Logged in to see 8 negs because I think the refs are too dumb to completely fix things. Relax astromen. Good lord this board loves a conspiracy.

[billsfan714]

Im not a Cowherd fan, but he touched on how ridiculous this is.   Yeah the league is conspiring to keep teams like Dallas out of the superbowl for the past 25 years or so.  Huge difference between bad officiating and a conspiracy.   Did some of you watch the end of the Giants game on this board?

[Dancing Fool]

6 hours ago, Nelius said:

Logged in to see 8 negs because I think the refs are too dumb to completely fix things. Relax astromen. Good lord this board loves a conspiracy.

I appreciate this perspective. 

 

"The majority clearly disagrees with me... you are all spacy conspiracy theorists!"

 

It is legitimately very helpful to understand where somebody like yourself is coming from. Thanks for the insight. 

[LabattBlue]

Run on tinfoil.  Supply chain going to be a problem. Stock up now.