Tim Donaghy Claims Corruption in NBA Finals

[Chris Craig]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/disgraced-former-official-says-nba-204854194.html

Former referee Tim Donaghy Claims that the NBA has suspended Draymond Green to prolong the finals and garner higher ratings and revenue.

 

[UncleCliffy'sDaddy]

Well duh!!!

 

[e_blazer]

You can pretty much stop reading after, "Tim Donaghy claims...". The guy is a weasel with zero credibility.

 

[Strenuus]

It's been corrupt for 20+ years.

 

[ripcityboy]

And in other news.... Fire is hot!

 

[MARIS61]

You can pretty much accept this as fact. The guy is a weasel with 100% credibility.

fify

 

[Boob-No-More]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/disgraced-former-official-says-nba-204854194.html

Former referee Tim Donaghy Claims that the NBA has suspended Draymond Green to prolong the finals and garner higher ratings and revenue.

Seems iffy at best since the NBA gets paid the same by CBS whether the finals goes 4 games or 7 and that is, by far, their biggest source of revenue. Sure there is additional money from ticket, concession and merchandise sales but that money goes to the teams and players and not directly to the league.

I mentioned this in another thread earlier today, that a longer series does keep the NBA's product in the public's eye longer, but it won't have any impact on future TV revenue. The ink has been dry on the next TV deal ($24 billion for the next nine years) and by the time the contract is up for renegotiation, nobody will even remember how many games this series went.

BNM

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Seems iffy at best since the NBA gets paid the same by CBS whether the finals goes 4 games or 7 and that is, by far, their biggest source of revenue. Sure there is additional money from ticket, concession and merchandise sales but that money goes to the teams and players and not directly to the league.

I mentioned this in another thread earlier today, that a longer series does keep the NBA's product in the public's eye longer, but it won't have any impact on future TV revenue. The ink has been dry on the next TV deal ($24 billion for the next nine years) and by the time the contract is up for renegotiation, nobody will even remember how many games this series went.

BNM

Damn, that is a great scam! The NBA is getting CBS to pay for the finals?!?

 

[e_blazer]

fify

If you believe the league is fixed, why do you feed the corruption by watching?

 

[MARIS61]

Seems iffy at best since the NBA gets paid the same by CBS whether the finals goes 4 games or 7 and that is, by far, their biggest source of revenue. Sure there is additional money from ticket, concession and merchandise sales but that money goes to the teams and players and not directly to the league.

I mentioned this in another thread earlier today, that a longer series does keep the NBA's product in the public's eye longer, but it won't have any impact on future TV revenue. The ink has been dry on the next TV deal ($24 billion for the next nine years) and by the time the contract is up for renegotiation, nobody will even remember how many games this series went.

BNM

Exposure is the NBA's only source of revenue.

More exposure = higher fees for ads, TV, merchandise...

 

[SlyPokerDog]

If you believe the league is fixed, why do you feed the corruption by watching?

The same reason why he stuck around to watch Lee Harvey get blamed.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Damn, that is a great scam! The NBA is getting CBS to pay for the finals?!?

Sorry, I don't watch network TV. CBS, NBC, ABC, they are all the same to me.

BNM

 

[dviss1]

You can pretty much stop reading after, "Tim Donaghy claims...". The guy is a weasel with zero credibility.

If the beginning of Donag... comes off a lip when I'm refereeing.... boy... I draw my line quickly.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

Seems iffy at best since the NBA gets paid the same by CBS whether the finals goes 4 games or 7 and that is, by far, their biggest source of revenue. Sure there is additional money from ticket, concession and merchandise sales but that money goes to the teams and players and not directly to the league.

I mentioned this in another thread earlier today, that a longer series does keep the NBA's product in the public's eye longer, but it won't have any impact on future TV revenue. The ink has been dry on the next TV deal ($24 billion for the next nine years) and by the time the contract is up for renegotiation, nobody will even remember how many games this series went.

BNM

Completely irrelevant. They're drumming up business for the next contract.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Completely irrelevant. They're drumming up business for the next contract.

The next contract has already been signed and it's good for nine years starting next October. That means negotiations for the next, next TV contract won't even start for over 8 years. Do you really think that anyone will remember 8 years from now whether this series went 5 or 6 games, and if they do, do you think it will matter?

BNM

 

[STOMP]

If you believe the league is fixed, why do you feed the corruption by watching?

Because where better to go to get a Bball fix but then by watching the best players in the world? One person watching or not out of protest of the league's BS isn't going to change the way it conducts it's business. Reality sucks sometimes.

I don't know how someone who regularly watches the NBA doesn't think that the officiating has some obvious patterns that fall outside the bounds of calling a straight game. Home court advantage in the NBA is around double what it is in the other major sports. Just trying to send the customers home happy, whats wrong with that? [/snark]

The next contract has already been signed and it's good for nine years starting next October. That means negotiations for the next, next TV contract won't even start for over 8 years. Do you really think that anyone will remember 8 years from now whether this series went 5 or 6 games, and if they do, do you think it will matter?

when they negotiate the next contract, the past ratings and Ad revenue will matter a lot. What sort of dollars did the league deliver?

STOMP

 

[Rhal]

Adam Silver seems much less shady then Stern. Under Stern he was always looking at what could increase ratings in the big picture and it seemed like he could fix games, with how Silver wants everything to have an oversight and transparity, something Stern would have hated, it doesn't seem right that they would fix games. Also Drammond was suspended because of his second flagrant 1, its not like waht he did got him suspended it just got what he did upgraded to a flagrant 1, which is only a big deal because it got him suspended. Think about the shit storm that would have come from what Drammond did if he hadn't have been suspended especially after his BS Stevens play that he got away with. Pretty much Stern killed so much goodwill from fanbasis with the league that any outcome with anything contravseral at all fans will take the stance of "F the league they got that wrong and it proves this is fixed!"

 

[Boob-No-More]

when they negotiate the next contract, the past ratings and Ad revenue will matter a lot. What sort of dollars did the league deliver?

STOMP

But will they go back over 9 years and look at ratings and ad revenue from the previous, previous contract? That would seem to be rather stale, outdated data. I think they would concentrate on the performance under the (at that time) current contract. By the time the next contract is up for negotiation, they will have 8 years' worth of data under that contract. I would think when negotiating a TV deal, what have you done for me lately would be much more relevant that what did you do for me 9 years ago under a previous contract.

BNM

 

[rasheedfan2005]

Dramond should have been suspended in every series after the 1st one. He punched a ref against blazers. He drop kicked someones face against thunder among other things. Fuck that guy if anything is rigged it's that he's only been suspended once this post season.

 

[BigGameDamian]

You can pretty much stop reading after, "Tim Donaghy claims...". The guy is a weasel with zero credibility.

Yet he is right.

 

[illmatic99]

Seems iffy at best since the NBA gets paid the same by CBS whether the finals goes 4 games or 7 and that is, by far, their biggest source of revenue. Sure there is additional money from ticket, concession and merchandise sales but that money goes to the teams and players and not directly to the league.

I mentioned this in another thread earlier today, that a longer series does keep the NBA's product in the public's eye longer, but it won't have any impact on future TV revenue. The ink has been dry on the next TV deal ($24 billion for the next nine years) and by the time the contract is up for renegotiation, nobody will even remember how many games this series went.

BNM

Exactly. There is no direct financial incentive for the NBA to extend the series.

 

[e_blazer]

Because where better to go to get a Bball fix but then by watching the best players in the world? One person watching or not out of protest of the league's BS isn't going to change the way it conducts it's business. Reality sucks sometimes.

I don't know how someone who regularly watches the NBA doesn't think that the officiating has some obvious patterns that fall outside the bounds of calling a straight game. Home court advantage in the NBA is around double what it is in the other major sports. Just trying to send the customers home happy, whats wrong with that? [/snark]


when they negotiate the next contract, the past ratings and Ad revenue will matter a lot. What sort of dollars did the league deliver?

STOMP

Do I think that superstars get the same officiating as everyone else, or that homecourt doesn't have an influence? Of course not, but that's a long way from saying that the league intentionally fixes the outcomes of games. Donaghy was caught with his hand in the cookie jar and wants to downplay his own guilt by casting aspersions on the league in general. I have no time for him and no time for conspiracy theories. If I did think that the fix was in on a regular basis, I guess I'd have two choices: 1) just watch college ball where things are less tainted; or 2) accept that the fix is in like it is in professional "wrestling" and just watch for the show. Thinking that the fix is in, continuing to watch anyway, and then whining about the fix being in seems a bit idiotic to me.

 

[illmatic99]

sidebar: I watch very little NCAA, but their bball officials are trash.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Exactly. There is no direct financial incentive for the NBA to extend the series.

Doesn't the tv deal promise minimum viewership levels, beneath which the NBA would need to provide "make goods" to the network? I don't know what the ratings have been so far, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're below the threshold. This could be their way of trying to avoid having to pay those rebates.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Doesn't the tv deal promise minimum viewership levels, beneath which the NBA would need to provide "make goods" to the network? I don't know what the ratings have been so far, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're below the threshold. This could be their way of trying to avoid having to pay those rebates.

Nope, the ratings have been extremely high, in spite of the early blowouts. Game 1 was the highest rated Game 1 since 1998. And, although three of the first four games were blowouts: "Though down from last year, the series trails only last year as ABC’s most-watched NBA Finals through four games."

I had also read a couple days ago, that the NBA's payout from ABC was locked in after Game 4.

Also, Games 6 and 7 of the Western Conference Finals set ratings records. The Warriors are a TV ratings juggernaut. They killed it in the finals the last two years and the WCF this year.

BNM

 

[Denny Crane]

If you believe the league is fixed, why do you feed the corruption by watching?

Trying to be relevant.

 

[BBert]

If you believe the league is fixed, why do you feed the corruption by watching?

It's like a "reality" show.

 

[Sinobas]

Does the NBA even get more money if the finals go more games? They have a contract with the networks, but not sure if the contract has "kickers" that will up the anty under certain circumstances. I think Draymond's suspension has been a long way coming.

 

[jlprk]

Exactly. There is no direct financial incentive for the NBA to extend the series.

There's an indirect one. Next time the networks negotiate the next contract, their bid will be based upon the revenue from the current contract...which will be higher because of any extra playoff games that got played.

 

[Boob-No-More]

There's an indirect one. Next time the networks negotiate the next contract, their bid will be based upon the revenue from the current contract...which will be higher because of any extra playoff games that got played.

Nope, the next contract is already signed, sealed and delivered. It runs for nine years starting next October. As I've already mentioned, when the next, next contract is up for negotiation, it will be based on performance on the then 8-year old current contract, not stale data from over 9 years prior.

BNM