How to solve the NFL and NBA's "bad boy" problem

[jmowreader]

Mandatory corporate sponsorship.

Think, if you will, of auto racing. As Darrell Waltrip once put it, "what makes a race car go fast is what's painted on the hood" - the logo of some product. The companies who own those logos won't put up with The Face Of Our Company being a criminal off the track, and they'll make a team get rid of a driver quick if he becomes an embarrassment. The drivers know this, and they behave.

The NFL and NBA are different: teams are named after the town they're supposedly from, and the players tend to run amok. I don't think Ray Rice would have initially received a two-game suspension if he played for the McCormick Ravens. Nor do I think the football team based in Washington, DC, would have the name it has if it was sponsored by Lockheed Martin.

[el_bryanto]

1. This may be an odd example where corporations might make things better

There's some logic to this proposal.

Bryant

[Donald Ian Rankin]

2. This, and also employing people and producing goods for sale. N.T.

[el_bryanto]

3. And Corrupting the democratic process and messing up the economy. nt

[Donald Ian Rankin]

4. "the economy" would be more accurate than "messing up the economy" N.T.

[NightWatcher]

5. The teams have owners and often enough those owners won't put up with the shit

Especially if it starts to make them look bad.

The product that is on the jersey IS the jersey. If the Jets have an asshole, fewer people buy Jets merch and then they also start trashing the Jets' name. People start making fun of the Jets and the owner, tired of his product being made fun of on late night tv, fires the asshole, thus protecting his product.

I do not want any more corporate sponsorship or logos on tv. We are already drowning in commercials and sponsors. The sidelines are covered in ads, the graphics are covered in ads, the games are played in corporate named stadiums and air commercials between every notable play, score, injury, penalty....