Major League Baseball, the most gambling-averse of all the major professional sports, is apparently totally cool with the idea of a team playing in Las Vegas.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke to YES Network on Tuesday and called Vegas a "viable option" for a franchise. With the NHL reportedly close to announcing a team in Vegas and both the NFL and NBA flirting with the gambling mecca over the years, pro sports are embracing the potential riches of Vegas like never before.
Baseball — with its dark history of gambling, from the Black Sox scandal to gool ol' Pete Rose — isn't exactly the sport you'd think would cozy itself up to Vegas, but hey, Manfred has surprised us before with his ideas. Here's what he said on the matter to The Michael Kay Show:
"We passed that by a long time ago, right? There are casinos all over the place,” Manfred said. “I see Las Vegas as a viable alternative. I would not disqualify it just because of the gambling issue.”
That's good to hear, because the logic there is sound. But baseball in a different era tried so hard to separate itself from gambling, lest it look like a bunch of hypocrites. Of course, being a financial backer of Draft Kings probably helped ease that stance.
To be clear here, Manfred saying Vegas is a "viable option" doesn't mean a team is going there anytime soon. It just means it's not an immediate "nope" if the issue were to come up. Still, I found myself pondering possible names for this hypothetical Las Vegas team, because you can't just give it any ol' name. Here are some I liked. So please speak your mind in this totally meaningless poll.
 | @mikeoz | |
MLB commish Rob Manfred says Las Vegas is a "viable option" for a team. Name this hypothetical team:
| ||
Regardless of what happens, I'm already over here thinking about writing fan-fiction about a reality in which Jose Canseco is the owner/manager/on-field emcee/60-year-old cleanup hitter for a Las Vegas MLB team.
Hey, we all have dreams in life.
No comments:
Post a Comment