NCAA, Pro Sports Leagues Suing New Jersey Over Sports Betting Law

There are four states where sports gambling is legal: Nevada, Delaware, Oregon, and Montana. That seems to be unfair to other states that have later legalized gambling, such as New Jersey. This year, Gov. Chris Christie and the legislature sought to overcome federal law authorizing only Nevada to allow sports betting by enacting a sports betting law for the state.

Now, the NCAA and the major pro sports leagues are suing the state.

The nation's four professional sports leagues and the NCAA filed suit against Gov. Chris Christie and other state officials in federal court in Trenton this morning to block New Jersey from allowing sports betting in Atlantic City casinos and the state's race tracks.

The suit, brought by Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and the National Collegiate Athletic Association cites a 1992 federal law, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, prohibiting all but four states to permit betting on collegiate and professional games. The measure was sponsored by Bill Bradley, a former Democratic senator from New Jersey who also played basketball for the New York Knicks.

The suit asserts that "the outcome of collegiate and athletic contests must be determined, and must be perceived by the public as being determined, solely on the basis of honest athletic competition."

New Jersey was the only state in 1992 to be be given an opportunity by Congress to approve a referendum allowing sports betting, but the matter was never placed on the ballot.

In November, New Jersey voters approved a ballot referendum to amend the state Constitution to allow sports betting , which is currently only permitted by federal law in Nevada, Delaware, Oregon and Montana.

It's really hilarious to read that the leagues and NCAA are concerned about New Jersey's gambling threatening the "character and integrity" of events and threatens the "reputations and goodwill" between fans and teams. After all, that would be an argument applicable to any state that had sports gambling.

This seems to be a curious argument being made by the sports organizations. After all, they haven't been concerned about the gambling in the states where it is legal (and grandfathered into the federal law prohibiting sports gambling elsewhere). If they were that concerned about the vice of sports gambling, then they would have tried to block sports gambling in those states. Well, they have tried, though they haven't been successful.

This has more to do with a poorly conceived federal law that is discriminatory against states that didn't consider sports betting prior to the enactment of the federal law. It protects the interests of the states where sports betting is legal and intrudes into an area where states were previously free to consider their own policy on gambling.

NCAA Imposes $60 Million "Fine" And Other Penalties on Penn State

The NCAA has imposed a $60 million penalty and vacated all of the school's wins from 1998 to 2011. The $60 million is going to found a fund to compensate victims; the $60 million isn't in addition to whatever settlements come against the school or its officials.

Let that sink in a moment.

Penn State's fine is equal to one year's revenues from the football program.

The schools wins are vacated from 1998 to 2011.

The punishment also included the loss of some scholarships over four years and the vacating of all of the team’s victories from 1998 to 2011, but stopped short of forcing the university to shut down the football team for a season or more, the so-called death penalty. Still, the penalties are serious enough that it is expected to take Penn State’s football program, one of the most successful in the country, years before it will be able to return to the sport’s top echelon.

The postseason ban and the scholarship restrictions essentially prevent the program from fielding a team that can be competitive in the Big Ten. The N.C.A.A. will also allow Penn State players to transfer to another university, where they can play immediately, inviting the possibility of a mass exodus. Penn State will lose 10 initial scholarships and 20 total scholarships each year for a four-year period.

In announcing the penalties, Mark Emmert, the N.C.A.A. president, called the case the most painful “chapter in the history of intercollegiate athletics,” and said it could be argued that the punishment was “greater than any other seen in N.C.A.A. history.” He said Penn State accepted the penalties when they were presented to the university.

The N.C.A.A.'s penalty is the latest action to stem from the scandal involving Sandusky, who was convicted last month of being a serial pedophile. The release of a grand jury report detailing Sandusky’s actions last November led to the firing of the head coach, Joe Paterno; the removal of the university’s president, Graham B. Spanier; and charges against two other top university officials.

Emmert said that no punishment the N.C.A.A. could impose would change the damage done by Sandusky’s acts, but “the culture, actions and inactions that allowed them to be victimized will not be tolerated in collegiate athletics.”

Ed Ray, the president of Oregon State and chairman of the N.C.A.A.'s executive committee, said the case, and the sanctions imposed, represented a declaration by university presidents and chancellors that “this has to stop.” By that he meant a win at all costs mentality with respect to intercollegiate sports.

And all of this is because Penn State officials thought that protecting the football program and the university's reputation was more important than protecting innocent kids.

Now, the program is hit with the stigma of condoning the abuse. And it still is insufficient.

Sorry, but they deserved to have the football program canned altogether. The school's officials actively engaged in a coverup of sexual abuse and it was institutionalized by those in the athletic department and from top school officials. $60 million is a huge sum, but one that isn't going to miss a beat with a school's endowment the size of Penn State ($1.8 billion systemwide). Losing scholarships, bowl appearances, etc., will hurt, but it's not going to rectify the way that the school completely abrogated its responsibilities to the community.

People need to learn that there are serious consequences for condoning sexual abuse. A fine isn't going to cut it in my book.

As for the students in the football program, they should be allowed to transfer to other schools with no penalization; they were bystanders to the failures and had no way to know that they were going to a program that was as debased as Penn State was. Let them transfer to other programs with no loss of scholarships or eligibility. This isn't on them.

Oh, and I still see that the Paterno family questions the Freeh report's conclusions about Joe P. Sorry, but I have no sympathy for them or Paterno's legacy. He knew, or had reason to know of the abuse, and did nothing - and worse, let Sandusky continue to play a role in the sports program and work with kids.

The school finally took down the statue honoring Paterno over the weekend. That's little more than a symbolic gesture and cold consolation to those who were abused.

UPDATE:
The NCAA decision also allows football players to transfer at no loss of eligibility or loss of scholarship. That's good for the students, but the university should have seen even greater penalties. The football program should have been disbanded. The university institutionalized the failings that allowed Sandusky to commit his abuse and didn't do enough to protect innocents.

The scandal will eventually fade and the program will eventually return in full form.

Heck, a 1950s point shaving scandal at a bunch of NYC area colleges had longer lasting results:

While Kentucky was forced to cancel one season of play (1952-53), it was the only program that was not permanently hobbled by the scandal. To date, Bradley is the only other affected school to have appeared in a final major media poll. However, none of the programs would suffer more than CCNY and LIU. Following the discovery of several other irregularities, CCNY deemphasized its athletic program and dropped down to what is now Division III. LIU shut down its entire athletic program from 1951 to 1957, and didn't return to Division I until the 1980s.

Penn State should have at least done the same as LIU, or the NCAA should have imposed a similar fate.

Sex Assault Scandal Threatens To Take Down Penn State Sports Program

This is a story that broke over the weekend, but actually began more than a decade ago. A former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, for Joe Paterno's storied Penn State Nittany Lions football team was arrested for sexually abusing 8 boys over a 15 year period from 1994 to 2009, including some incidents that are believed to have occurred in a Penn State athletic building. Sandusky faces 40 abuse charges, including 21 felonies. He was released on $100,000 bail. Sandusky retired from Paterno's staff in 1999.

Sandusky apparently encountered the children through a charity he founded and operated called The Second Mile.

The allegations are bad enough, but the university's actions are reprehensible:

According to a grand-jury report, a Penn State graduate assistant claimed that on the night of March 1, 2002, he entered the football locker room and was surprised to hear the showers running and sexual sounds coming from that area. The young coach said he witnessed Sandusky sodomizing a boy he estimated to be 10 years old, that both the well-known former coach and the boy saw him, and that he raced to his office and called his father, who advised him to leave the building.

The graduate assistant went to Paterno’s home the next day to explain what he had seen. A day later, Paterno called athletic director Tim Curley to his home to relay the message.

More than a week passed before Curley and Gary Schultz, Penn State’s senior vice president for finance and business, called upon the graduate assistant for his direct version of events.

Curley and Schultz never reported the accusation to authorities, even though the grand-jury report indicated that Schultz testified he was aware of a 1998 investigation into shower incidents involving Sandusky and children in the football building. Sandusky retired in 1999, after 21 consecutive years as a Paterno assistant.

Curley and Schultz face charges of perjury to a grand jury and failure to report suspicion of child molestation.

Penn State’s president, Graham Spanier, expressed support for Curley and Schultz. The prosecutor didn’t. Neither Curley nor Schultz, after their lengthy delay in calling upon the graduate assistant, told university police about the allegation. They face perjury charges for claiming that the graduate assistant never informed them that sexual activity was involved.

Curley did ban Sandusky from bringing children on campus again, however, and Spanier approved the ban. The university president also never informed any police authorities, but was not charged.

So, at best, the AD and a university V-P were told about a possible child molestation in a football locker room; they waited a week-and-a-half to question the witness; they took action banning the alleged perpetrator -- a longtime former trusted employee -- from bringing children on campus; and the university president approved the ban, either knowing why he approved it, or not knowing why he approved it, which would be almost equally preposterous.

The arrest shook the campus to its core, and raises questions over who knew and when. It appears that at least several people knew about the sexual abuse, but did not alert the authorities. Two officials have resigned, and are facing charges themselves for obstruction of justice and perjury:

Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and a university administrator, Gary Schultz, will step down amid a sexual abuse scandal involving a former football assistant, the university announced early Monday morning.

Curley will take an administrative leave to defend himself against perjury charges, and Schultz will retire. The decision came during an executive session Sunday night involving Graham B. Spanier, the president of the university, and members of the university’s board of trustees.

The possibility of the resignations of Coach Joe Paterno and Spanier was reportedly not discussed at the meeting.

Curley and Schultz, the senior vice president for finance and business, were charged Saturday with perjury and failure to report to authorities what they knew of the allegations involving the former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, who was charged with 40 counts related to sexual abuse of boys.

Curley and Schultz deny any wrongdoing.

Mark Sherburne, the senior associate athletic director, will serve as interim athletic director.

“The board, along with the entire Penn State family, is shocked and saddened by the allegations involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky,” Steve Garban, the chairman of the board of trustees, said in a statement. “Under no circumstances does the university tolerate behavior that would put children at risk, and we are deeply troubled.”