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The impact of Adam Silver’s sports betting op-ed five years later

by David Purdum, ESPN.com

 

NBA commissioner Adam Silver had a lot to consider in the fall of 2014, when he sat down to write an op-ed that would pivot the league’s longstanding opposition to sports betting.

At the time, professional sports leagues, including the NBA, were getting into business with daily fantasy sports companies while at the same time suing New Jersey to prevent the state from authorizing traditional sports betting. In addition, the NBA, for decades, had stood with the NCAA, NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball in ardent opposition to expanding legal sports betting in the United States. Silver was getting ready to break ranks.

He worked on the op-ed at his Manhattan office and at home, sometimes calling advisors late at night with questions about specific phrases. He consulted with a team owner and league executives. He didn’t even know what outlet would publish it.

Early in the evening on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014, Silver’s op-ed, titled “Legalize and Regulate Sports Betting,” was published on The New York Times website. It would become one of the Times’ most popular op-eds, and it began, “Betting on professional sports is currently illegal in most of the United States outside of Nevada. I believe we need a different approach.”

The entire article was brief, straightforward and, yet, extremely bold. Silver was the first acting commissioner of a major U.S. sports league to come out in support of legalized sports betting. In 437 words, he pivoted the NBA’s long-held public opposition to sports betting and ignited a discussion about a taboo subject for all professional leagues.

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