# What is the worst sports governing body in the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 14, 2014, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612 "2014-11-14T11:49:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/21 "2014-11-14T20:21:32Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Agreed. > FIFA seems pretty corrupt, but then I don’t watch soccer enough to provide instances outside of World Cup backroom deals. > > MLB seems shady. From the performance enhancing drugs scandals they can’t seem to shake to the lopsided bankrolls large markets can throw around to buy up all the talent. Actually. MLB has been doing a MUCH better job than ever the past 20 years. Yes, maybe that’s setting the bar low, BUT… 1. MLB hasn’t had a work stoppage in 20 years. Can the NBA or NHL say that? 2. Expanded playoffs have largely put an end to the dominance of a few rich teams. Even if and when big money teams reach the post-season, the nature of baseball means the weaker sisters who reach the postseason have good chances of going all the way. Wild card teams have won the World Series several times, which tells you all you need to know. Come October, a so-so team that backed into the playoffs has about as good a shot at going all the way as any rich team that spent a fortune on free agents. 3. MLB didn’t handle steroids well in the Nineties, but they’ve cracked down hard and gotten the cooperation of the players in the process. Does anyone really want to pretend that steroids and HGH aren’t widely used still in other sports? The NFL has largely gotten a pass on steroids, even though I’m SURE they’re widespread in football. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/22 "2014-11-14T20:25:26Z")
Let’s not forget USA Swimming and [it’s response to sexual abuse](http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/11/13/outside_magazine_s_story_on_sexual_abuse_in_competitive_swimming_is_devastating.html) that makes Cardinal Law look like a stand up guy. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/23 "2014-11-14T20:37:32Z")
It’s laughable that FIFA investigated itself and announced that, nope, they’re not corrupt, not them. It’s worth mentioning that they are now being investigated by the FBI. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/24 "2014-11-14T20:42:59Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I read somewhere that boxing was popular in the '50s because it was so cheap to televise, and so it was shown a lot more than other sports. You needed one guy with a microphone, and one camera. That might be, but boxing was one of the most popular sports in America\* before anyone owned a TV\*, and remained a major sport well into the 1970s and 1980s. The Ali-Spinks fights in 1978 were one of the biggest sports stories of the year. Boxing started falling apart for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was they started making it hard to actually watch a major fight on TV. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/25 "2014-11-14T20:57:42Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Boxing started falling apart for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was they started making it hard to actually watch a major fight on TV. And the Don Kings of the world made it very hard to put together the fights people really wanted to see in the first place. If Don King had been around in 1971, Ali would never have fought Frazier- thye’d both have spent years fighting tomato cans and avoiding each other. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/26 "2014-11-14T22:34:40Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I’m gonna suggest the NWA doesn’t count because professional wrestling is not actually, you know, a sport, in the sense this thread clearly was meant to include. It’s like saying Universal Pictures is a bad sport governing body. I’m going to suggest that maybe, just maybe, my post about the NWA might have been a joke. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/27 "2014-11-14T22:49:05Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > I’m going to suggest that maybe, just maybe, my post about the NWA might have been a joke. If it makes you feel any better, I got it. Yeah, I didn’t think it would. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/28 "2014-11-14T23:12:28Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > It’s laughable that FIFA investigated itself and announced that, nope, they’re not corrupt, not them. It’s worth mentioning that they are now being investigated by the FBI. Any info on this? Wasn’t it the FBI who finally brought down Lance Armstrong and his US postal team? ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/29 "2014-11-14T23:25:04Z")
Great question. FIFA shades the IOC in the corruption stakes in my opinion, although I wouldn’t be surprised if Pyongyang gets a winter Olympics. But at least those two can stage big events and actually make money. The alphabet soup of boxing organisations are also corrupt at every level and even worse seemingly completely inept at actually running their sport. If chess counts as a sport FIDE deserves a mention for managing to alienate their current champion and being under the control of an avowed alien abductee for the last twenty years. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/30 "2014-11-14T23:53:27Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](#): > > Any info on this? > > Wasn’t it the FBI who finally brought down Lance Armstrong and his US postal team? > **[FBI moves ahead with FIFA corruption probe | CNN](https://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/13/politics/fbi-fifa-corruption-probe/index.html)** > > U.S. investigators are stepping up the pace of a corruption investigation into senior leaders of FIFA, even as the world soccer body cleared itself. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/31 "2014-11-15T01:27:13Z")
The IOC is the one I hate the most. I hate how willing politicians are to sell out to these bastards, doing things like granting them sole rights to symbols and words that predate the IOC by hundreds or thousands of years. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/32 "2014-11-15T01:33:29Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I’m gonna suggest the NWA doesn’t count because professional wrestling is not actually, you know, a sport, in the sense this thread clearly was meant to include. Professional wrestling was a sport at one time. The fact that it’s a joke now serves as a condemnation of the body that was supposed to be governing it. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/33 "2014-11-15T02:48:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Professional wrestling was a sport at one time. Not in a long, long time. There were legit wrestlers back in the mid to late 1800’s, and possibly into the early 1900’s, but the leagues were probably never legit. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/34 "2014-11-15T02:52:40Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Professional wrestling was a sport at one time. The fact that it’s a joke now serves as a condemnation of the body that was supposed to be governing it. But it wasn’t like this sort of thing crept in, like steroids. Professional wrestling is just a form of performance art, has been for generations. Criticizing it for being scripted is like criticizing “Breaking Bad” for being scripted. The WWE et al. aren’t failing at what they do. They’re EXCELLENT at what they do. I would stake my house that if wrestling had been kept a real sport it would not be 1/1000th as lucrative and popular as it is as a soap opera for men. Real wrestling is, to most people, boring. It is not a very dynamic sport, if you will. Like all sports it’s very interesting once you understand it, but it’s not spectacular the way boxing or MMA (or football, hockey, etc.) are. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/35 "2014-11-15T03:19:05Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Professional wrestling is just a form of performance art, has been for generations. Criticizing it for being scripted is like criticizing “Breaking Bad” for being scripted. The WWE et al. aren’t failing at what they do. They’re EXCELLENT at what they do. > > I would stake my house that if wrestling had been kept a real sport it would not be 1/1000th as lucrative and popular as it is as a soap opera for men. Real wrestling is, to most people, boring. It is not a very dynamic sport, if you will. Like all sports it’s very interesting once you understand it, but it’s not spectacular the way boxing or MMA (or football, hockey, etc.) are. At the risk of hijacking this, isn’t pro wrestling more like unto MMA than real wrestling? Watch a match and I figure you’ll see kicks and punches and a knee to the gut and an elbow to the head and, yeah, okay, some grappling interspersed with all the striking, but that’s still a _heck_ of a lot of striking. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/36 "2014-11-15T04:12:55Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > At the risk of hijacking this, isn’t pro wrestling more like unto MMA than real wrestling? Watch a match and I figure you’ll see kicks and punches and a knee to the gut and an elbow to the head and, yeah, okay, some grappling interspersed with all the striking, but that’s still a _heck_ of a lot of striking. The ring gets the shit beat out of it on a nightly basis. The other wrestler, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/37 "2014-11-15T04:55:45Z")
Haven’t seen mention of the FIA yet (F1 racing). Old Bernie recently got out of a trial for bribery by…paying money to the people accusing him of bribery to get them to drop the charges. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/38 "2014-11-15T06:35:10Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > MLB seems shady. From the performance enhancing drugs scandals they can’t seem to shake to the lopsided bankrolls large markets can throw around to buy up all the talent. Large market teams didn’t really have fatter bank accounts than small market teams. All the teams are owned by billionaire who could buy up expensive players anytime they want. They fact that they don’t has nothing to do with the size of the market. ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/39 "2014-11-15T06:51:57Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > Which are also some of the same reasons it is the worst. Huge amount of power and profitability. It must be stopped. You just sacked that straw man for a 10 yard loss! The NFL has done a tremendous job of marketing itself and crafting a game that is great to watch on TV. It inspires loyalty and passion from its fans and the networks line up to pay billions in rights packages. These are accomplishments to be commended. But it’s also neglected the long-term health of its players for decades, turned a blind eye to violent off-field transgressions, and to this day continues to hold cities hostage for new stadiums under the threat of relocation. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612/40 "2014-11-15T07:20:02Z")
It’s funny to get to post 40 without anyone mentioning the UCI… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-sports-governing-body-in-the-world/704612.md?page=3)