« Adam Silver force un Game 7 », « Adam Silver reveals his plan for Game 7 »… Last June, during the grand final between Thunder and Pacers, content of this type abounded on the web. With the backdrop of conspiratorial vectors which regularly surface, according to which the dice of the Great League are loaded.
The league closely monitors what is said about it and knows the issues that arise. “ If this sport is not seen as honest, with fair competition and maximum integrity, over time we will lose our fan base. I have no doubt about that », says Adam Silver when asked, on the sidelines of the NBA Cup final, about ideas of the genre.
The boss of the league takes these questions very seriously – even if it means sleeping badly – and tries not to take “ personally » comments like this. “ But to the extent that anyone thinks that the league is manipulating things, that they have a preference for a team or that they want more games in a series rather than fewer, or a particular outcome, I think that is extremely harmful to the game. »
In response to these accusations, the league assures “ repeat [ses] efforts » particularly in terms of sports betting. Are there any improvements to be made in terms of monitoring? Or how injuries are reported, so that equal opportunities are guaranteed?
Persuade specialized companies to move
Adam Silver then takes the example of the Terry Rozier case, which does not really go in the direction of the integrity advocated. “ It is now publicly known, we knew, as did our betting partners, that there were suspicious bets on this match before it took place. They actually canceled bets on this match because something strange was happening, so the system worked well from that perspective. »
However, is it possible to keep an eye on everything? Not only on legal betting and their “ 40 different jurisdictions » in the United States, « but also (on) prediction markets, which now constitute a form of legalized sports betting “. And of course, anything that does not fall within the legal framework which, according to the manager, represents “ probably still more than 50% of sports betting today ».
In detail, the league considers itself to be the most “ vulnerable » with “under” bets (betting on the idea that a statistical threshold will not be reached) or “prop bets” (specific events that can occur during the match). The league thus seeks to persuade legal sports betting companies that these arrangements would not be profitable for anyone.
« From a business perspective, if their consumers don’t believe in the integrity of the product, why would they be willing to place bets? », questions Adam Silver, aware that the sports betting curve is increasing, and not the other way around. “ The volume continues to increase, which just means we will have to do whatever is necessary to protect our integrity », term-t-il.
