Should the federal gov't be involved in sports?

I can't say that I'm shocked but apparently our Senate is taking an interest in the New Orleans Saints bounty program. Seriously, don't our elected officials have anything better to do? How about pass a budget? That hasn't been done in over 1,000days now. How about fix our gas prices? How about figure out how to work with the House better? Instead, they will actually waste our tax payer money on hearings about sports....again.
Should our Federal Gov't be involved in sports? I'm speaking college and professional.
Senator calls hearing to examine bounties in NFL - NFL - SI.com

MarineTpartier said:

Should the federal gov't be involved in sports?

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Yes

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no.


Have I said it enough yet? Keep the fricken government out of crap that does NOT concern them.

IDK... What are they going to do? :shrug:

Professional sports is a business today and should be treated as such. OSHA should be involved to the extent to oversee player/fan safety.
Some College sports (football for one) is also big bucks for the school. It is almost like a business.

I feel that Congress has bigger issues to deal with than worrying about the NFL, especially since the NFL seems to be policing itself.

To answer the actual Poll Question: The Fed already IS involved in sports and has been for ~50 years. Professional sports bribery has been a Federal crime since the 60's.


As for bounties, I think the current attention is more like a motorcycle cop giving you a warning with the Fed essentially saying the various leagues need to watch their teams better. Obviously, letting this happen for three seasons is a bit much - you'd think someone would have caught it or said something before now. Why is this a Fed issue at all? Because Pro sports is Big Business and it's a part of interstate commerce, that's why. That being said, I think at this point the Fed warning is plenty. It gives the leagues the backing they need to make it clear to their teams that bounties will not be tolerated. Any further action by the Fed at this time is unwarranted.

My guess is this is the result of someone from the NFL asking for support to improve their stance. The teams never like new restrictions or oversight from the league. This way the NFL can tell the teams, "look, if we don't do this the Fed'll get involved and no one wants that". Personally, I think it was a smart move.

I'd prefer they not be. But, when laws are broken, i.e. steroid use, tax fraud, etc., now this bounty business. Does someone have to die first?

If players are basically being rewarded for hurting their opponents it should be a crime.


Senator calls hearing to examine bounties in NFL - NFL - SI.com
Sen. Dick Durbin is setting up a Judiciary Committee hearing about bounties in professional football and other major sports in the wake of news that New Orleans Saints players received extra cash for hits that hurt particular opponents.

The assistant Senate majority leader, an Illinois Democrat, said Thursday he wants to examine whether federal law should make such bounty systems a crime.

"Let's be real basic about it here. If this activity were taking place off of a sporting field, away from a court, nobody would have a second thought (about whether it's wrong). `You mean, someone paid you to go out and hurt someone?"' Durbin said in a telephone interview before raising the issue on the floor of the Senate.

"It goes way beyond the rules of any sporting contest, at least team contest, to intentionally inflict harm on another person for a financial reward," he said.

His announcement came a day after the NFL took a harsh stand on bounties, suspending Saints head coach Sean Payton for all of next season, and indefinitely banning their former defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams. Saints general manager Mickey Loomis was barred for half of 2012, an assistant coach got a six-game ban, and the team also was docked two second-round draft picks and $500,000.

Read more: Senator calls hearing to examine bounties in NFL - NFL - SI.com

MarineTpartier said:

I can't say that I'm shocked but apparently our Senate is taking an interest in the New Orleans Saints bounty program. Seriously, don't our elected officials have anything better to do? How about pass a budget? That hasn't been done in over 1,000days now. How about fix our gas prices? How about figure out how to work with the House better? Instead, they will actually waste our tax payer money on hearings about sports....again.
Should our Federal Gov't be involved in sports? I'm speaking college and professional.
Senator calls hearing to examine bounties in NFL - NFL - SI.com

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Hearings on steroids a while back. What???

Rosie1 said:

I'd prefer they not be. But, when laws are broken, i.e. steroid use, tax fraud, etc., now this bounty business. Does someone have to die first?

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But is federal involvement needed? Not imo. They are already sticking their noses into too much crap as it is.

Absolutely they should.

What if a city that could barely afford it footed half the bill for a giant stadium that brought squat for jobs?

Hell, no.

Its not like they have anything they SHOULD actually be working on...no...the country is doing so well and congress functions like such a well oiled machine...

This is so not necessary. Some people talk about the gov't getting their hands into everything when they should not, how is this any different? I understand that sports are huge money but so are other industries. Folks get so up in arms about sports, crying and throwing things and even burning couches (in Milwaukee when Packers lost). Some of them are oblivious that there are social issues that affect people in much deeper ways.

Case in point:


OT-- why athletes make so much? I just do not get it.

There doesn't need to be any action from the Federal Government not in a regulatory sense, nor criminal unless you want to go RICO and there the justification would be weak. At a State level they can be prosecuted under existing statutes.

I voted yes, and here is why:

IMHO, I believe that the chamber of the House should be turned into a Colosseum, and that the president, vice president, and all of Congress should duke it out in a match to the death. Last man standing gets eaten by a lame duck. We can then put the whole thing on PPV, and use the proceeds to pay down the debt.

Overall, no, they should not, but with some basic caveats...

1) I am fine with safety considerations, and the current "bounty" issue could possibly fit this. I see this as a safety issue and really no different than a guy on an assembly line rigging an "accident" to purposely harm a co-worker they dislike. That's criminal, and with the government's scope, IMO. There is a natural chance of serious injury simply due to the nature of the sport, but bounties add intent and changes the whole prospect.

2) If it were something like steroids, I would say only if the drug is illegal. That one I have a hard time with, though, because I don't favor the illegality of most drugs, but if it is illegal, then the government would have a legitimate interest. If the particular drug is not illegal, then no, the government should go find something else to do.

3) Not addressed in this thread yet, but I am a firm and vocal opponent of baseball's anti-trust exemption, and strongly believe that it should be fully repealed. To me that is the government interfering in the affairs of private business, and baseball... while it is my favorite and preferred sport... is not critical enough to warrant an exemption from laws that other non-critical businesses are expected to live under.

Every time I think that Congress can't become more worthless, they step down their game a notch. I'd be happy for a Congressman to call a law enforcement official and say "hey, would you look into this for me?". After that, I think there are plenty of law enforcement agencies that can deal with laws being broken without getting the "experts" involved at Capitol Hill. When George Bush got Congress involved, at least it had been a lifelong interest of his - he was somewhat of an "expert". And, he used his podium to draw attention to a problem (however idiotic). But, if they're going to start doing interviews again, it set a bad precedent. There's nothing worse, in my opinion, than when the only wrong someone gets convicted of is misleading Congress. After all, Congress misleads us all the time (double meaning intended).

GreenvilleGrows said:

Every time I think that Congress can't become more worthless, they step down their game a notch. I'd be happy for a Congressman to call a law enforcement official and say "hey, would you look into this for me?". After that, I think there are plenty of law enforcement agencies that can deal with laws being broken without getting the "experts" involved at Capitol Hill. When George Bush got Congress involved, at least it had been a lifelong interest of his - he was somewhat of an "expert". And, he used his podium to draw attention to a problem (however idiotic). But, if they're going to start doing interviews again, it set a bad precedent. There's nothing worse, in my opinion, than when the only wrong someone gets convicted of is misleading Congress. After all, Congress misleads us all the time (double meaning intended).

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If I understand your intent correctly, you're saying stuff should be locally investigated.

In general, I agree with this. Congress itself does not need to be involved. In the "bounty" scandal it still should be federal (FBI, I suppose[?]) as the games... and bounty hits... would have taken place at various venues across state lines.

MoSurveyor said:

To answer the actual Poll Question: The Fed already IS involved in sports and has been for ~50 years. Professional sports bribery has been a Federal crime since the 60's.


As for bounties, I think the current attention is more like a motorcycle cop giving you a warning with the Fed essentially saying the various leagues need to watch their teams better. Obviously, letting this happen for three seasons is a bit much - you'd think someone would have caught it or said something before now. Why is this a Fed issue at all? Because Pro sports is Big Business and it's a part of interstate commerce, that's why. That being said, I think at this point the Fed warning is plenty. It gives the leagues the backing they need to make it clear to their teams that bounties will not be tolerated. Any further action by the Fed at this time is unwarranted.

My guess is this is the result of someone from the NFL asking for support to improve their stance. The teams never like new restrictions or oversight from the league. This way the NFL can tell the teams, "look, if we don't do this the Fed'll get involved and no one wants that". Personally, I think it was a smart move.

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If man would behave better, he would not bring this on himself...
The conservatives will scream "no", a thousand times "no', in the meantime, people are being hurt, needlessly.

MarineTpartier said:

I can't say that I'm shocked but apparently our Senate is taking an interest in the New Orleans Saints bounty program. Seriously, don't our elected officials have anything better to do? How about pass a budget? That hasn't been done in over 1,000days now. How about fix our gas prices? How about figure out how to work with the House better? Instead, they will actually waste our tax payer money on hearings about sports....again.
Should our Federal Gov't be involved in sports? I'm speaking college and professional.
Senator calls hearing to examine bounties in NFL - NFL - SI.com

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Of course they should.

It's the job of Congress to pass laws to regulate interstate commerce. Sports is a national business nowadays. So it's their job to write regulations concerning it. And it's the job of the agencies of the executive branch to enforce those laws.

Now are there better things the federal government should be doing right now? Of course.

But it's not like the divided Congress is going to get anything else done anyways, except for those things that their campaign contributors bribe both sides into doing.

Shadow Serious said:

There doesn't need to be any action from the Federal Government not in a regulatory sense, nor criminal unless you want to go RICO and there the justification would be weak. At a State level they can be prosecuted under existing statutes.

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(emphasis added)

Then you'll have athletes that won't want to play in certain states because the laws and levels of enforcement will differ. How long would it be before quarterbacks refuse to play in, say, Texas because Texas law isn't as tough or as enforced as much as, say, CA or NY law?

MarineTpartier said:

I can't say that I'm shocked but apparently our Senate is taking an interest in the New Orleans Saints bounty program. Seriously, don't our elected officials have anything better to do? How about pass a budget? That hasn't been done in over 1,000days now. How about fix our gas prices? How about figure out how to work with the House better? Instead, they will actually waste our tax payer money on hearings about sports....again.
Should our Federal Gov't be involved in sports? I'm speaking college and professional.
Senator calls hearing to examine bounties in NFL - NFL - SI.com

Click to expand...

The reason they are is because the industry agreed to it in exchange for monopoly protection.

The Federal government shouldn't be involved at all, for god sakes its just good old fashioned entertainment. In cases where baseball players and such are gong to jail or threatened by jail in a all ready over crowded prison system is just ridiculous. The leagues should define their own rules, if they want players to not take enhancement drugs they should define that in the contract and if caught they should be fired but never go to prison. It's just a game.