MGoPoll: Worst Commissioner in Sports

Submitted by Blueblood2991 on

After the B1G’s announcement about Friday night football yesterday, it got me thinking about all the commissioner blunders that have been occurring, especially lately. I found it odd that I knew so many of their names off the top of my head, all for bad reasons. Here are the candidates:

Jim Delany (B1G): Most recently, he released that teams would be playing on Fridays.  He clearly didn’t ask the universities about this, because there was instant backlash. Responsible for adding Rutgers.  Destroyed the CCHA.  Anything to make a quick buck > tradition.

Greg Sankey (SEC):A few weeks ago he completely botched postponing the FLA/LSU game, and it is now a home game for LSU instead. Didn’t seem like a huge deal at the time, but now Florida is 1st in the East, and LSU is very much alive in the West. Also spent all summer complaining about satellite camps instead of addressing huge issues at Ole Miss and Tennessee.

Bob Bowlsby (Big12): Basically signed a death warrant for the conference. Was bullied by ESPN to not expand for a mere $10 million(a whopping $1 million per school). Except for Texas, the payouts for next year are expected to be about $30m per school. By comparison, B1G and SEC will be ~$50m. Not sure if the intent to expand was ever even there, or they just needed to convince themselves they were still relevant by trolling G5 teams all summer.

Roger Goodell(NFL): LOL needs no introduction

Gary Bettman (NHL): As recently as last week, he continues to vehemently deny that CTE is linked to concussions. He also went all in on a Las Vegas expansion team instead of more sustainable cities. Three lockouts have almost crippled the NHL under his watch.

Sepp Blatter (FIFA): Pinnacle of corruption.

Vote in the first comment below for this year’s Dunning-Kruger Incompetency Award

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skurnie

November 3rd, 2016 at 7:41 PM ^

Blatter is now gone so he doesn't count but it obviously Da Gawd.

Bettman has done the most damage by far. I'm amazed 5-6 teams haven't folded under his tenure.

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bronxblue

November 3rd, 2016 at 7:41 PM ^

In terms of overall insanity, it's Blatter.  FIFA is incredibly corrupt, like profoundly corrupt.  But amongst American sports, it's Goodell and then everyone else.  He's just atrocious, and to make matters worse he's somehow found a way to make less people watch football than in years past.

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HL2VCTRS

November 3rd, 2016 at 7:42 PM ^

If he were still in charge. Ran the most corrupt sports organization this side of the Russian Olympic doping program and profited off it. It's a race for second, and Goodell has my vote. He seems to be taking the most popular American sport and slowly eroding its appeal and popularity. Every decision he makes seems to scream power hunger and dictatorship. Not such a good leader. Not on this list, but you could add Mike Helton from NASCAR. Took an amazingly popular sport (or activity if you prefer) and ran it into the ground. Priced his hardcore fans out and made rule after rule that went against what made it popular. It's actually any interesting parallel for Goodell.

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turtleboy

November 3rd, 2016 at 7:44 PM ^

It's Blatter. He's extorted millions from countries tax free, had countries rewrite laws for fan safety to personally profit, forced south Africa to allow him to set up its own sham court system to actually try and convict offenders at world cup events, I swear that's actually a real thing. Blatter is so overwhelmingly bad he shouldn't be on the list.

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stephenrjking

November 3rd, 2016 at 8:29 PM ^

Jim Harbaugh checks in with his feelings regarding Friday night football:

 

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Bando Calrissian

November 3rd, 2016 at 9:55 PM ^

This thread should comprise of Gary Bettman, and Gary Bettman alone.

Singlehandedly and systematically killed his league's appeal. Universally hated to the extent that they've essentially changed they way they hand out trophies because Gary getting booed relentlessly (even by losing team fans who stayed in the arena merely to do it) was becoming a liability for the league.

Plus, he has maybe the most supremely punchable face in sports.

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Perkis-Size Me

November 3rd, 2016 at 10:27 PM ^

Whoever ran FIFA is numero uno. As much as people dislike Goodell, he looks like a patron saint of the poor and suffering compared to the former FIFA commissioner.

But Goodell is awful due to his blatant inconsistency and seemingly arbitrary rulings. Ray Rice is suspended for a whole year and essentially ostracized from the league for life for cold cocking his girlfriend while Greg Hardy does the same thing, is a repeat offender, and gets four games. Tom Brady gets the same amount of punishment for slightly deflating footballs that Greg Hardy gets for beating women. There is no consistency with Goodell.

No real opinion one way or another with the others, but Bettman seems to be doing a subpar job considering the NHL goes into lockout mode once every 8-10 years under his watch.



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MGoBlueMyself

November 3rd, 2016 at 10:32 PM ^

Blatter worst overall. Worst college has to be Bowlsby. We complain about the B1G, but let's be honest, if our conference was that dumpster fire and awful product that is the Big 12, we be asking out.



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ndscott50

November 3rd, 2016 at 10:38 PM ^

It's TBD but Goodell has the potential to be the worst ever. We may have passed peak NFL in the last year or two. His combination of arrogance and lack of vision could be really disastrous as the head of a league in decline



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Kmaize

November 4th, 2016 at 8:03 AM ^

Sepp Blatter and it's not even close. Sepp - Gives negative fucks. The most corrupt former president of the most corrupt sports organization surrounded by the most corrupt allies from the most corrupt countries. FIFA has left most of the countries that the World Cup has been held in crippling debt. Imagine the Mob running the NFL with payouts, rigged elections and people randomly disappearing. Roger - Gives zero fucks. The most inconsistently over-bearing, self-serving, my way or the highway, accept no fault type of leader... what fire? There's no fire. I'm making bacon. Either he's clueless or a grade A sociopath. He says things so confidently that it almost makes you think that he's doing things in your best interest, then smiles while getting boo'd and walks away just as confident. Gary - Has fucks to give, doesn't give them. Shrewd, shrewd, shrewd businessman that has created a ton of wealth for the NHL while at the same time causing an extreme amount of tension between owners and players with the multiple lockouts. He does what he feels is the best decision for the league financially. He's a numbers guy, popularity to him means nothing. His ridiculous stance on CTE is what has him this high on the list for me. Owners have more to say and to do with the lockouts than he does, but he could have stepped in. Also.. he gets paid almost 10 million a year... look at the majority of NHL salaries. The rest. Delaney is a tool that really seems like he has no idea wtf he's doing and doesn't have a backbone. Think chicken little puppet. Bowlsby blames everyone for his shortcomings and gets overexcited when the league finally does something right. Think the kid in school that never passes a class but "no child left behind" keeps him going, then gets happy when he's not last in the spelling bee. Sankey is a whiny pouting toddler that won't pay attention to the issues in his own conference and hates any competition. Think of when the popular kid sees new kids transfer and tries to sabotage their every existence. One former one that was missed is David Stern. Haaaateeeed that guy!!!

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