The No Fun League Flexes its Muscle Again
The NFL, known as the “no fun league”, is going to slap fines on NFL players who were in a Vegas casino participating in an arm wrestling event. A group of NFL players were at the Pro Football Arm Wrestling Championship at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The league has strict rules and policies to prohibit any association by players, team personal, refs and others with gambling related events in casinos and other venues.
Some of the players who participated in the event included James Harrison, Kenny Stills, Marquette King, NaVorro Brown and others. The fine amounts have not been disclosed but a close estimate is around ten thousand dollars. Marshawn Lynch was there but he is officially retired and will not be fined although he may be back in uniform next season.
Those players being fined were in violation of NFL policy but were either not informed or lacked any judgement by joining a promotional event during the NFL off season in a Las Vegas casino resort. They were at a charity event but their appearance to help raise money does not matter to the NFL brass and their harsh interpretation of their anti-gambling policies.
This debacle is nothing new from the no fun league and their threatening tactics. Not even Tony Romo was sparred any mercy when his fantasy football conventions were forced to cancel a few times in Las Vegas back in 2015.
Just a hint of anything close to a gambling association is taboo on the NFL radar and they will come after you with a heavy hand.
This latest display of arm twisting by the NFL will receive criticism and questions considering the Raiders are moving to Las Vegas in a few years. Vegas survives by gambling and tourist revenue and is casino driven to promote its product — legal adult entertainment. The NFL will have to work around the Vegas environment and enact some rule changes to adapt to their anti-gambling stance and be more flexible to the realities of Las Vegas.
The NFL is approving the Oakland Raiders move to Las Vegas but the NFL is not easing its position on sports gambling. The NFL policies are somewhat ambiguous and redundant. It states that NFL players can gamble at casinos like some have done at the World Series of poker. But they cannot be involved in the marketing and promoting of gaming events — even fantasy football and arm wresting !
The NFL and Las Vegas officials will have enough time to discuss and plan for the Raiders organization to settle in the Las Vegas areas. How the NFL will realign its strict policies on their anti-gambling stance to accommodate the Vegas pro gambling environment will be a sticky bone of contention. Unless the NFL makes changes for this relocation to a legal gambling city, they will need extra investigators to oversee compliance by players and other personal plus add stadium security to watch for any irregularities. But they cannot be naive to think their security tactics will work. Casino gambling and sports betting is legal and permitted in most areas around Vegas and surrounding areas.
How the “Rules of Engagement” will be created and structured to satisfy all vested interests will be for the lawyers and officials to iron out. The NFL and its mighty commissioner Roger Goodell cannot force itself on any Vegas operators like the sportsbooks.
There are a few years to set things in motion and deal with the sports betting framework.
