State of Sports: More Cheaters, Dopers, Criminals -- and Fans -- Than Ever Before
As more scandals pervade sports, more and more fans are watching.
July 10, 2008 -- When ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy dropped his bombshell allegations during the 2008 NBA Finals that he and other unnamed league refs had fixed playoff games in years past, the response from basketball fans was unmistakable.
They made Game 6 the most watched NBA Finals game in eight years.
Say what?
Coming after former San Francisco Giants baseball star Barry Bonds' suspected doping and imprisoned NFL quarterback Michael Vick's dogfighting, Donaghy's allegations were but one of a litany of high-profile scandals that have rocked pro sports in recent months, all of which illuminated a more disturbing trend of the sporting landscape: The fans just don't seem to care.
"Most fans see sports as an escape from the rest of the world, and guys doing steroids is not nearly as serious to them as paying $4 a gallon per gas or the war in Iraq," said John Feinstein, columnist for the Washington Post and author of numerous books, including "A Season on the Brink" and "A Good Walk Spoiled: Days and Nights on the PGA Tour."
"Sports are a reflection of our society, and the world's a tough place these days," Feinstein said. "There's a lot of bad things going on."
The NBA is not the only league thriving in the face of what might seem like adversity.
Despite the shadow cast by the Mitchell Report of 2007, which detailed a long history of steroid use in baseball, Major League Baseball set spring training attendance records this April and is on pace for a fifth consecutive record year of overall attendance, according to mlb.com.
Fans' apparent apathy toward the dark side of sports, as reflected in their continued financial support, presents a conundrum for owners and officials: If the fans are still paying to see the games, why should we take any drastic measures to try to fix it?
"The corporate dollar has taken over sports," Feinstein said. "But the people running the sport have a responsibility to try to fix the problems, even if fans are turning out in record numbers. That's the effect of all of this — whether the fans care or not, the people running the league need to care."
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