The commissioner of a league obviously holds a very important role in the success, or failure, of the league that they run. Over the years we have seen many decisions made that have affected the various leagues in many ways. Rules to help with player safety, changes in how money is handled, expanding leagues, rules to make the games more exciting, etc... Some commissioners have done their job better than others. I would like to take some time to explore some of the successes and failures of the many commissioners and determine the best of them! So here we go!
NFL - I'm going to deal with two guys in talking about the NFL since the current Commish hasn't really been in control all that long. Highly respected by both owners and players, Paul Tagliabue is one of the best commissioners in the modern eras of professional sports. He retired Sept. 1, 2006. Probably his greatest success was the last collective bargaining agreement that he managed to get completed. I believe it was in that same year, but it guaranteed that there would be no labor disputes through 2011. That's a huge deal, because you never know how those things are going to play out. Not to mention, there were no labor disputes, period, during his time as commish. Tagliabue also instilled one of the strcitest drug testing policies in professional sports, one that is still looked at as the best model on the subject.
There are a few things that haven't been so great in his time, or at least thought to be rather controversial by some folks. There used to be 2 teams in LA , for instance. One moved back to Oakland, and the other went out to St. Louis. Now, that isn't exactly his fault, but there were many people that weren't happy about it. Cleveland moving out to Baltimore was thought to be disgraceful, and though we do now have a team back in Cleveland, they haven't really been competitive yet. Same with the Houston teams. Though the Texans have begun to show a bit of competitiveness. Under his tenure, most people also began to refer to the NFL as the "No Fun League" because of his cracking down on showboating. Now, I happen to agree with him on the issue of excessive celebrating. I'm not watching a football to see a guy dance when he scores. I'm watching for the hard nosed competition. So, by and large, I would consider Tagliabue an overwhelming success.
Roger Goodell hasn't had to make a huge decision in the league just yet, but he has managed to show that he's not going to take any crap from the players. Hard line stances against punks like Pacman Jones and Michael Vick are very good things in my eyes. It will be very interesting to see what happens in 2011, when he has his first run at a CBA.
NBA - David Stern is another commissioner that has hide a very successful run. 1998 was his biggest downfall when there was a lockout in the NBA. However, something that he managed to do very well, that many other leagues haven't had a ton of great success with, was expansion. He added 7 teams, many of which have become quite competitive! One of my favorite things that he instituted was the player dress code. I LOVE this, and think it is something that more leagues should consider. Make the players put their best face forward. They are representing the league, and the league wants to look good! I know a lot of the players think that it's silly, but I would much rather see the players in suits than in baggy pants and ridiculous amounts of bling. Another pretty popular commish, I can't count him as successful as the NFL because there was a work stoppage on his watch.
The last 2 I think are both disgraceful, but 1 slightly moreso than the other.
MLB - Bud Selig. A lot of people believe a lot of things about Bud Selig. He has done some good things for baseball. I have loved the instalation of inter-league play. He has introduced stronger punsihments for players who are caught using banned substances. While many people still argue over its worth, I have always liked the introduction of the wild-card into the playoffs.
His downfalls are many, however. Trying to change the postseason so that it will last longer and go into November. It's just plain unnecessary. And pretty much all of baseball looks forward to October, not November. Come on, what reason is there? The player strike in the early 90s is always something that will be a black eye on the league. Making the All Star Game decide who has home field advantage in the World Series is something that I find to be completely and totally stupid! It had always been an exhibition game, I don't see why the game needs to matter. It's supposed to be the best of the AL and NL coming together and having a little bit of fun. Why does it need to determine anything? Because Peter Gammons thinks that certain players shouldn't be on the field during the All Star Game? I remember watching him pout on the air because a player that he didn't like was in the game in the 4th inning. IT'S AN EXHIBITION!!
The last thing that has been the biggest black eye on Major League Baseball has been the rampant use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball. It is something that baseball should have taken a strong stand against a long time ago, but because people just turned a blind eye as Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa had amazing home run races year after year. There is now at least a policy about punishment once you're caught, but there are still an amazing amount of Performance Enhancing Drugs that are not tested for. It is because of this that baseball's very intergity has been shattered, and people's faith in the league no longer exhists. Baseball is no longer America's pasttime, football is.
As disgraceful as the actions of Bud Selig have been, he has still had far more successes than the final commish I will discuss.
NHL - Gary Bettman. I am listing Gary Bettman as the worst of the commissioners for many reasons. In recent years, after the lockout, there have been a lot of successes and smart decisions made. Unfortunately, it seems as though there are many other decisions that he made before the lockout that have doomed the NHL to second rate coverage. They NHL has gone from one of the most respected leagues, to the one that the least people know about. Decisions such as not negotiating a reasonable contract with ESPN and jumping over to OLN/Versus (something that only 65 % of houses that have ESPN have) has lessened the exposure of the NHL to the country.
One of the other things that has hurt the NHL is the ridiculous amount of expansion that has happened over the years. We went from a league with 28 teams to 32 teams, in a league that was already hurting financially. Not only did they expand the league, they expanded it to markets that, with the exception of the Wild, don't support hockey. Let's look at this; Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Florida Panthers, Atlanta, Columbus, Nashville, and Minnesota. These are places that care fare more about sports like football, and the activity, yes activity not sport, of NASCAR. Hockey has fallen far behind NASCAR, which is an absolute disgrace. Anaheim has had a few years of success, even winning a Stanley Cup, but when they aren't winning, there is no attendance at their games.
Many teams have also been relocated, for a variety of reasons. Winnipeg went to Phoenix, Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas, Hartford Whalers went to North Carolina, and the Nordiques have moved to Denver. Strangely enough, each of these teams, except for the Coyotes, have won a Stanley Cup. Unfortunately, some of the more unsuccessful teams are being forced to stay where they are instead of given the possibility to move to a stronger market. Case and point, Phoenix Coyotes. This is a team that is on the verge of financial meltdown, and we have a Canadian owner ready to move them to a town that is hungry for a team, that would support them no matter how good or bad they were, and Bettman is FIGHTING to keep them there. Why?
Lastly, he has no respect for the history of the game. For years he has been giving the Canadian TV stations the snuff for playoff coverage. He changed the conferences and division names from their historically meaningful names to Western vs. Eastern yadda yadda. Many long time hockey fans were made very unhappy with these motions.
Plus, Gary Bettman has had 2 labor issues in his tenure. 1 shortened season, from 82 games to 48 games, and one entirely cancelled season. He's the most embattled commissioner in sports today, and he's the one that has had the most issues. He has alienated the fans, made it harder for all of them to see the games, turned his back on the traditions of the game, and had major labor disputes. For all of these reasons, I rate him as the worst commissioner in sports.
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