A couple of weeks ago, my anonymous friend had one of those ideas come like a bolt from the blue.
We were talking about the impending move of the Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas (probably, to be more precise, another set of stupid stadium deals), and my friend got to thinking: We all know that the major sports leagues, for many years, actively resisted any involvement in Las Vegas, for fear of consorting with gamblers (including, in the 1960's, bans for a number of prominent NFLers for even having ANY association with gamblers, casinos, what have you...
(Which see Paul Hornung and Alex Karras, whose association with gamblers was part of a one-season ban of both from the NFL when they were at the height of the league.)
And then, I think it was my friend who came up with the answer:
Mayer.
As in Mayer vs. Bill Belichick, New England Patriots, and National Football League -- the completely idiotic ruling which made it impossible, even with all the facts in a row, for a fan (or any real agent) to take action against a sports league for the deliberate ignorance of the rules, for any or no reason.
In effect, the ruling which made sports rigging legal, as long as it is the LEAGUE which performs the rigging.
Since that ruling (more correctly, since the David $tern Era in the NBA), the sports leagues are taking the more legal route and rigging games themselves. (It always has been, and remains, illegal for players or teams to go into business for themselves -- that is sports bribery or point shaving.)
Hence, there was no material need for the limitation anymore, and now the NHL and NFL will have teams in Las Vegas by the fall of 2019.
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