re: #3 Bob Levin

Agenda much?

Do you mean that gambling wasn’t a factor before 1958? That television began the gambling success of the league? That the league receives specific revenue from gambling? That baseball has never been influenced by gambling because it’s not a “poet’s” game? (If so, I suspect Pete Rose, Eddie Cicotte and Joe Jackson might want a word with you….) That people who grew up playing and watching the game are only following it because of gambling?

Couldn’t have been the sudden increase in interest as live television broadcasts began reaching more and more homes, or the competition that the AFL created, or that the AFL’s existence played a major role in the desegregation of professional football, or that the competition from the AFL caused the entrenched NFL to reach out and pursue a merger, or that its growing television popularity resulted in an avalanche of advertising dollars, or that their decision to license league gear and control the royalty stream resulted in unprecedented revenue….

I’m puzzled as to why you’d believe that gambling is an influence, rather than a consequence. I’ve known many gamblers over several decades, and they’ll bet on any f-ing thing when they’re in the zone — I’ve watched several making all manner of side bets during women’s basketball games, such as number of free-throw attenpts over x number of minutes.

Why the special ire toward the NFL?