The NFL and college football devotes large amounts of money to run their activities. With that in mind, the biggest question is whether there is any possibility to rig the results of their scheduled games. This question first came up on November 28, 2015 on Quora, which is an online network in which people share knowledge and insights by answering a wide range of compelling questions.
As you focus on NFL picks, you should consider following their online platforms on Google+, Facebook and Twitter. According to Jay Stark, it is almost impossible to rig any NFL or college football game. Stark has two-decades experience working for the NFL, along with a two-year tenure working for a team in the league. He based his argument on the following details.
First, when it comes to officiating games, two different outcomes come up: biased officiating and bad officiating. Every official who is part of the officiating union can easily pinpoint weak officials. Generally, the league usually ensures such officials belong to a strong crew of officials with the aim of improving their skills and reducing their negative influence on the game.
As such, if they make any biased decision during games, people would see it just as an inconsistency in relation to their normal duties.
Second, many staunch football fans can easily identify a game in which an official made a debatable decision towards the dying minutes to settle the score in favor of an opposing team. However, in case the official was part of a rigging plan, how would he have predicted that the game would trickle down to the last decisive play or that it would reach a point where he has the opportunity to change the course of game by making a controversial call or ignoring it?
In football, changing the course of a game calls for a mutual understanding among three officials, including the referee. This is almost impossible on a live game scenario because most referees on the field would ignore any possibility of being involved in biased officiating.
Furthermore, to hold down the wrong team from gaining a massive lead over their opponents, the officials will have to make bad calls in the opening minute of the game, which is another impossibility because protests would ensue. At the same time, during the game, officiating supervisors are usually on the lookout to ensure the referee makes good calls and if otherwise, they usually have a hotline number to call and have a session with in the subsequent commercial break.
Another curious question is whether coaches or players can throw a game, absolutely not. To throw a game, a coach must make some critically risky decision in the first quarter of the game. To benefit from a losing outcome for his team, a good coach must make such decisions if he is certain his players are equipped with a winning mindset.
With the intention of compensating for his players’ talents, the coach has to make outrageous decisions and beyond. A big fraction of NFL and college coaches has many years of experience in their careers while receiving hefty annual salaries. As such, it is almost impossible to bribe them for rigging games with team owners and athletic directors in attendance.
In summary, for someone to rig a game in the NFL or in college football, he will have to convince nearly half the team. However, with many college players focused on playing their heart out to impress NFL scouts, and professional NFL players aiming to advance their contracts, rigging games is a tall order. Therefore, rigging games in the NFL or in college football will never happen because one would have to pay off second-rate players on both teams.