3x3 OT proven silly

[abmarks]

2b. Love how in a few short years the NFL has gone from "there is no gambling" to the announcers talking about betting lines.

I grew up watching Jimmy the Greek on CBS's pre-game show, so I'm pretty sure sportscasters have always acknowledged gambling in the NFL.

Back around 2011 or so I had the opportunity to press Patriots President Jonathan Kraft on the NFL's Gambling hypocrisy.  At the time some NFL teams (or all, I dont remember exactly) had just announced that they were going to lend the team names to some scratch-off lottery tickets somewere in the country. Also pointed out that given how much gambling interest there is in the NFL (which indirectly drove a lot of revenue from increased TV viewership etc) that it seemed hypocritical to be so steadfast at the time against legalized Gambling.

In a nutshell, his response was that the resistance was really only from a small number or elderly, powerful owners who'd been around to see what the original Paul Hurnung fiasco had done to the game.  He felt that once those owners were either out of the game, died off, or caved in, that the NFL would jump in headfirst.   The guy's not dumb- there was a multi-billion dollar Illegal market at the time which would only grow.

Putting on my 2020's hat, I'd guess that while some old line owners like these three below had to pass on, the final hurdles were Jerry Jones to see the writing (greenbacks) on the wall, the Supreme Court ruling on the Wire Act and multiple states legalizing sports betting shortly thereafter.

The Cardinals Bill Bidwell died in 2019
THe Lions William CLay Ford died in 2014
THe Saint's Tom Benson died in 2015

[jtwcornell91]

Another piece of evidence: Going into the last day of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga season yesterday, Frankfurt was two points ahead of Berlin for the last playoff spot.  The two were playing simultaneously versus different opponents, and when both games went into overtime, Frankfurt clinched the playoffs, since they were guaranteed one point and Berlin could get no more than two.  (In the end, Frankfurt won in OT, and Berlin lost in a shootout.)