In the classic eighties movie
Indecent Proposal, Robert Redford offers Woody Harrelson a cool million bucks
to spend one night with his wife, Demi Moore. Many of my favorite sports now
find themselves in the role of Woody Harrelson, wondering if the big cheque you
are getting is worth having some creepy dude screw around with something you
love.
I have been a sports junkie my whole life. Whether its playing,
watching, discussing or watching sports movies, I have always thought that
sports provides a great common reference point for us all. Sports has become
the new religion, it often provides us with role models, and I have always
loved the challenge of having to deliver under pressure. It has what has made
me love watching curling, watching golf, or pretty much any other game where
dedicated athletes have trained to put themselves in a position that is
compelling to watch. I love the drama.
But lately, I have become a bit disillusioned by some of the implications
of money and sponsorship in the sports I love to watch. Hey, I get capitalism. I
am all for athletes getting paid. I understand that money and sponsorship allow
sports to reach a national audience. But damn, the last few weeks have been
tough on the sports I love, and the influx of questionable money is making it
harder and harder to be a fan.
Some are excited by the influx of cash – but I find myself asking myself
if we are willing to take money from anyone? And is it making the sports
better?
First, let’s talk golf. In case you have not been following, let
me fill you in. The LIV golf tour, created by a disgruntled Greg Norman has
begun poaching away golfers from the incredibly lucrative PGA tour by offering
them insane amounts of money. Phil Mickelson, whose best days of golf are
likely 20 years ago, was offered 200 million to leave the PGA and play in
events that look more like a charity pro-ams than golf tournaments, with a few
other top golfers. The money is being fronted by Saudi Arabia, who apparently
are compelled to drop billions of dollars into golf for no other reason than to
show that they can. Some call this “sportswashing” their money - trying to help out their country’s tarnished
reputation as a religious autocracy with a sketchy human rights record by
transforming it into “magnanimous sports promoter”.
Some of the game’s best are cashing in. Dustin Johnson, Bryson
Dechambeau, and likely Brooks Koepka will join the tour and cash in, reportedly
receiving amounts in the hundreds of millions just to show up. I guess I get
it. If someone offered me life-changing money to go and curl (not likely), I guess
I would take it. But golfers like Tiger, Rory, John Rahm, Jason Spieth and
Justin Thomas have turned down the money, saying that history, legacy and
competition are more important to them.
It’s easy to judge the sell-outs. They have no heart, no soul and
no appreciation for the PGA tour that made them rich and famous. They now have
enough money for their 2nd yacht, another private jet. It is hard to
cheer for multi-millionaires, who had more than any of us will ever have, who
now need MORE money. But they are not the problem.
My ask is why would anyone want to dump billions of dollars to
create a tour to rival an existing tour? In marketing, they say if you can’t
tell what someone is selling you, then you are the product. The Saudi Sovereign
Wealth Fund is buying credibility, image and wholesomeness. They know their
target market: they want rich, western citizens to know them and like them.
Golf gives them that. Phil and DJ give them that. The financial model of giving
away that much money cannot possibly make sense. This is not about business;
there is no way this tour would be financially viable; its revenues will be but
a fraction of the amounts it is paying out. It is all about spreading wealth to
make people like them.
Of all the uses I could think of for a few billion dollars, giving
it to wealthy PGA tour pros is at the absolute bottom of my list.
The PGA Tour, love it or hate it, has created a feeder system to
develop the grassroots of the game. It is also a true meritocracy; you have to
earn your way in and you have to keep playing well to remain. It is hard to get
there, and it is hard to stay there. That is what make me appreciate the
athletes who have made the choice to be that good. LIV golf is a showcase,
providing guaranteed money to players.
In no ways does the LIV golf tour make golf better for the fans. Idon't know how all this will end - but I guuarantee it will not end with a "and they made the game of golf better and all lived happily ever after."
From golf to hockey…
I was watching ads for sports betting the other night. Oh wait – I
was actually watching the Stanley Cup playoffs, which has seemingly become an
informercial for sports betting sites. There was commentary on the betting. And
then “celebrities” talking about their bets. I now know what a parlay is. I now
understand odds. How have I lived this long without being able to engage in
state-sponsored gambling?
I get it. Betting on sports can be fun. Dropping a few bucks into
a hockey pool is awesome. Betting with your friends, awesome. But sports
betting always comes with an ugly underbelly. We know that gambling is an
addiction like many others, and can ruin lives. So the incessant marketing of
this, making us feel like there are riches to capture if we only play,
normalizing gambling as something we all should do, feels wrong, and way over
the top.
Which brings me to curling.
Curling Canada just announced its deal with Pointsbet Canada, and
has created a new event: a March madness-style, single-knockout spiel in NB
next September. Don’t get me wrong; I love the idea of trying new formats, and
creating new events. And admittedly, this format sounds compelling, apart from
making teams fly to New Brunswick for the possibility of being out in one-game
(I believe they are giving the invited teams $5000 each to play to cover
travel). The prize money is pretty big as well. They are also inviting the
reigning Junior and Club (amateur) champions to play. And they will of course
have sponsor exemptions.
But here is where I have a few problems with this.
· Sports
betting start-ups in Canada are using the same technique as the Saudis; they
are normalizing their existence by throwing money at a sport with a good
reputation for being ethical.
· Gambling
in curling is fraught with the potential for fraud. I blogged about this last
year – and got a lot of feedback from people calling me a Debbie Downer for pointing
out what seems to be obvious: there are serious motivations for teams to manipulate
the outcomes of games to win or lose bets.
· Inviting
a junior team to an event sponsored by and encouraging sports gambling? Kinda
sketchy.
Sports betting has always had problems in sports where the money
being bet is misaligned with the money being made by the participants. For
example, in the US, betting on college basketball had a massive points-shaving
scandal, as the athletes do not get paid, but the money wagered was HUGE.
This is the wrong direction for Curling Canada. For an
organization that has done so much good work of late to encourage inclusiveness
and diversity in sport, the move towards gambling and monetizing the game is
outside of what they should be doing, or sanctioning.
I can hear you reading this and calling me an old-fashioned stick-in-the-mud,
and I hear you pointing out that the game used to be sponsored by tobacco and other
vices. But it isn’t anymore.
Like golf, part of the charm of curling was that it has a solid
ethical message built into its traditions and heritage. Players call fouls on themselves.
We shake hands at the end of games. We say “nice shot” to our opponents. The
unholy marriage with the sports gambling industry just does not fit.
I know that sports today is all about business. I am in no way naïve
enough to not recognize that money is hard to say no to, and money is required
to make bigger events, bigger purses and generate interest for the games. But if
we truly love our sports, I expect us to be able to recognize that money never
comes in for free; it always comes with expectations and conditions. Whether
its hockey, golf or curling, the recent influx of questionable money is a threat
to the very soul of these games. That is why it just feels so wrong to many fans.
And just because it’s now legal does not make it right.
To be honest - I can't remember how Indcent Proposal Ends, but I am going to guess that it is not "he took the money and they all lived happily ever after".
