and Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals was fixed. Let’s say there’s a memo, taped phone conversation, videotape, other refs’ collaboration, or something else that confirms it beyond doubt.
What happens?
Would the NBA (rightfully or wrongfully) strip LA of their championship considering had they lost that game they were out of the playoffs?
Besides Stern, who else would resign?
Will officiating oversight go to a third party?
It depends on who is involved in the specific game-fixing. If the Lakers did nothing wrong for example, , there’s no way they would be stripped of their championship. Even if they were involved, it’s problematic to give the title to New Jersey, because we don’t know that New Jersey would have beaten Sacramento. I agree that there’s a huge shakeup in the way the refs are overseen, and it would probably extend to other sports.
Meanwhile, this thread belongs in the Game Room.
The game is still played on a court. If the shots fall you win. Sometimes a fix would have to be too blatant.
My feeling has been the league using refs to maximize profits. Trying to sway the matchups to the big markets or big draw stars.
In the spirit of the OP, I note that the Cincinatti Reds still hang the banner from the 1919 World Series and we KNOW that one was rigged.
As a personal aside, I think this is all bunk. Donaghy knows which games were controversial and he used them to break his fall. I’m glad Baveta was not pulled from last night’s game. He’s the only ref with a personality, so I hate seeing him smeared.
Also, notice how Donaghy suggested two out of three refs were dirty. This is a built in defense from litigation. “You were the one who DIDN’T rig the game!”
What a douche. I hope he gets raped in prison.
No one stripped the Spurs of their title from last year. The Russian ice dancers kept their tainted gold medals from 2002.
The Serie A scandal from Italy was a vast fixing scandal involving dozens of people and five teams in a league every bit as big as the NBA. They kicked out some crooked people, stripped Juventus of it’s tainted championships and docked a few teams some points in the standings. That’s about the worst case scenario I think.
For the most part I wonder how much sports fans really care about this stuff. It’s not like NBA ratings are down this year because of the scandal. Serie A is doing fine. The Olympics remain popular after judging scandals. If the local team wins I think people are generally good with it.