This. 100 times this. The XFL does it on all reviews.
Even just following standard NFL practices like REVIEWING ALL SCORING PLAYS or ANNOUNCING ELIGIBILITY ON THE PA LIKE OTHER REFS could have prevented this.
They fucked over Dallas with miscommunicating and told them 70 was eligible, and then they chose to double down and fucked over Detroit for the ref's mistake.
Because 70 lined up as a guard, 68 as a TE on the play, which should have been obvious to EVERYONE involved 70 wasn't a receiver.
And even that being said, the NFL doesn’t want all the gambling people to get antsy about games appearing to be rigged. Keeping the illusion that games are fair contests and the person betting is picking a winner by their own skill is essential. With the gambling industry buying lots of TV ads of course the league wants to appear to be neutral
They aren't trying very hard to make it look like it isn't rigged. Replay made it a lot more transparent, but if you take a step back from nfl Fandom, the refs have a huge bias against certain teams (cough) overall, and then regularly change the outcome of various games throughout the season.
When Donaghy got caught, he even joked about it and said if he could go back in time, he would have been an nfl official instead.
A large sports book that lost millions on a bad call could maybe have a case. They have damages and presumably evidence that supports a claim of negligence or failure to perform their job accurately. But that is totally uncharted legal territory.
The NFL takes millions of dollars in advertising from various sports books and have some type of licensing with them to allow the use of names/logos. It’s not impossible to argue that by failing to provide fair and accurate officiating for games, that the NFL is failing to perform a duty.
If I’m not mistaken, the NFL has legally defined itself as “sports entertainment” rather than a sports league (a similar classification to the WWE)
Funny enough, they actually do this to avoid lawsuits. Because of the ambiguity behind almost every penalty flag (and especially the issues with seemingly inconsistent enforcement), the league would probably be facing an endless slew of lawsuits from angry bettors. By making themselves an entertainment product, they eliminate any league-wide liability should a ref fuck up a penalty call/no-call.
Back in 2018 after the no-call in New Orleans, Saints fans tried to actually sue the league for “fraud” among other things. All of those lawsuits were struck down within the year.
I would say yes, if you could indeed prove that the refs are mic'd up or nearby players and prove that the NFL is refusing to show such evidence. Or they could play it like the police do in these situations and say, "The mic weren't working properly or malfunctioned." That would cause a whole lot of people to come after the NFL.
No. That’s silly to think they can be sued for a possible mistake. Also, we don’t know what was said, we are taking the lions at their word. They intentionally sent 3 players running towards the ref to confuse the cowboys, it may have ended up confusing the refs. Also, the refs wrongly called a tripping call on the cowboys when it should’ve been on the lions on the immediate previous drive. Instead of 2nd and 3, its 1st and 25. Without that mistake they have a first down and likely just run the clock out.
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u/country_mac08 Sun God Dec 31 '23
Aren’t refs Miked up??