Wondering: if certain teams were more likely to get calls, which teams would those be? Teams which are very popular would give the league a financial incentive to help them succeed. Teams which win a lot of championships might raise questions about if there is something fishy about their success.
So I can see why people might, justly or otherwise, suspect that the Steelers and Lakers might be up to something…but the Oklahoma City Thunder?? If the refs are trying to help them win, they’re not doing a very good job! Granted they are having a good playoff series right now, but that’s mostly since after the OP was written.
Well, okay, why the Steelers? In fact, doesn’t that advise AGAINST favouring the Steelers? They already do as well as an NFL team based in Pittsburgh could possibly do. The stadium is packed, the fan base as rabid as can be. I doubt another dime could be made over what is being made there. The Steelers could go 4-12 next year and the black and gold will remain true to the team all the same. Wouldn’t you want to throw calls to a market with growth potential? When LA gets their team, sure, that’s a market with marginal utility in throwing them calls. Will the Rams get the calls?
The more you think about the idea, the sillier it is.
Before they were the Thunder they were the Seattle SuperSonics. The effort to move the team was rather acrimonious, and the commissioner at the time, David Stern, supported the move. I don’t know why he wanted to move the team to a smaller market, and Stern is not commissioner anymore so it’s not personal, but the league did seem to want a team in Oklahoma City and may now want them to succeed there.
I’ve umpired at all levels up to D1; There are a lot more bad officials out there than cheating officials. Believe it or not, it’s very difficult to make calls for a team, or against a team; at least in baseball. Your entire officiating career you are trained to call WHAT you see WHEN you see it. It’s a total shift to suddenly include thinking about a call. i.e. close play at second, “they were out, but it was close and it will help them to be safe, I’ll call them safe.” Furthermore the higher you get in sports, the more the game will be recorded and watched. If you’re making bad calls, it will get noticed and suddenly that ref will be working JV games.
Juventus F.C., an Italian football team. The team has been relegated one year because of bribing and match fixing. There have been accusations levelled at them for decades.