Yesterday, it was announced by Major League Baseball that Commissioner Rob Manfred has decided not to reinstate Pete Rose into the game of baseball.
Okay, that’s fine.
I get it: Pete Rose gambled and that’s a big no-no in the game of baseball. Let’s move on.
However, the more I think about it, the more I start to feel a little unsettled. As I watch more and more commercials for Draft Kings, the “Daily Fantasy Sports Operator” (or as I and the state of New York call them, a gambling company), the more I get a bad taste in my mouth.
Don’t you find it interesting that MLB and a GAMBLING organization are in an exclusive partnership?
Don’t you find it interesting that MLB has, since 2013, had a small stake in the GAMBLING company? Meaning, of course, that whenever Draft Kings does well financially, so does MLB?
Don’t you find it interesting that experts on ESPN, Fox Sports, and other sports networks, who APPLAUDED Manfred’s decision, have fantasy segments on their networks, telling fans what players they should spend, er, I mean GAMBLE, their money on?
Isn’t it interesting that Draft Kings grew exponentially since signing a partnership with MLB? And by “exponentially”, I mean going from $2 million in April 2013 to nearly $300 million by October 2015? (Thanks Forbes for the #’s)
Isn’t it interesting that MLB abhors gambling so much that it banned Pete Rose for life, but the same league who banned him are in an official partnership with Draft Kings?
I don’t know about you, but I smell hypocrisy and it doesn’t smell good. If MLB wants to continue to draw a hard line stance on gambling, it needs to cut ties with Draft Kings. Plain and simple. Yeah I know, it’s not illegal to play fantasy sports online, but come on. It’s gambling. I don’t care what the courts say, it’s gambling.
MLB won’t let it’s players or front office peeps use the website, yet they have a partnership with them…hmmm… Why get into a partnership if your players or front officer workers cannot enjoy the benefit of said partnership? What is MLB was all like, “We have a partnership with Gatorade, but no one can drink the Gatorade”?
MLB needs to ditch Draft Kings ASAP. It’s easier said than done, but they can’t expect to have Pete Rose’s ban taken seriously if they are still buddy-buddy with Draft Kings.
Draft Kings isn’t some shady back alley, nor is it an iffy mob underworld, but this is a very fine line baseball is walking. MLB can’t just walk the walk with Rose, it also has to talk the talk and ditch their affiliation with a GAMBLING company.You can’t denounce gambling and say it’s bad when you are a direct beneficiary of a GAMBLING company.
You can’t have your cake and ban it, too.
She Steals Second 