The Indefinite Suspension of the NFL's Calvin Ridley Raises Eyebrows

For decades, major sports leagues were very defiant about supporting the expansion of sports betting outside of Nevada. Some leagues and team owners even went so far as to advocate for the cessation of sports betting in Nevada. The argument for this opposition was always the same: the leagues wanted nothing to do with the specter of league impropriety due to issues related to gambling.
This past week, the NFL announced the immediate and “indefinite” suspension of WR Calvin Ridley of the Atlanta Falcons. His crime, he admittedly bet $1,500 sports. As if that was not enough of a league violation, he wagered on NFL games in parlays. In fact, he even included games that involved his very own Atlanta Falcons. In major sports circles, that is considered to be a mortal sin. Does anyone remember Pete Rose?

To be fair, Ridley’s wagers were done online in November of 2021. At that time, he was on the IR due to personal reasons, meaning he wasn’t an active member of the team. Still, league rules throughout all of the major sports leagues in the U.S. state clearly that no player will be allowed to wager on sports either through retail sportsbooks or online. Ridley admitted to breaking the rules and accepted his punishment with grace.

At issue is something much bigger. On one hand, sports leagues and teams are clamoring to sign major sponsorship deals with the nation’s top mobile sports betting operators. In fact, some states allow their professional sports franchises to secure sports betting licenses and run retail and online operations in or near their stadiums and arenas.

At the same time, leagues and teams are pursuing huge revenue streams from gambling interests, they are turning around and telling their athletes, young men with means, that they can’t bet on sports. In the eyes of some experts and a lot of sports insiders, the hypocrisy is palpable.

This is the very nightmare that kept sports leagues and the gambling industry at an arms-length for so many years. While there is zero evidence that Ridley benefitted from insider knowledge of any kind, the possibility of improprieties is a great cause of concern.

On one hand, the Ridley case represents that the NFL’s protocols for monitoring the sports betting activities of its athletes seem to be working. At the same time, it raises the question, what if this is not an isolated case?

Clearly, this is a tenuous issue at best. The unwillingness of well-paid athletes to stay away from sports betting should not result in U.S. adult residents being unable to legally wager on sports. At the same time, there will always be a rogue element looking for a chance to exploit anyone and anything they can for financial gain.

This is a story worth watching. For now, it’s best considered an isolated case that was detected because of the NFL having the right detection protocols in place. Going forward, it will be interesting to see how the other U.S. sports leagues react with so much marketing revenue on the line.