Sportswashing: The NFL in the Spin Cycle

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week we present the final episode in our season-long examination of sportswashing. All season we’ve examined sportswashing as government manipulation of sports as a means to enhance disreputable standing and to cover-up abuses. But governments are not the only guilty parties. Look no further than the men in control of the NFL: individuals (not governments) wielding sport as a way to improve reputations sullied by misconduct. Amongst their peers, Robert Kraft, Jerry Jones, Jim Irsay and (soon to be jettisoned) Daniel Snyder are all apart of the most exclusive and powerful fraternity in sports as owners of NFL franchises. Despite tenures fraught with significant personal and professional indiscretion, these men mostly skate, and in the cases of Kraft and Jones, are lauded by their players, fans, and local/national media, alike. How do they do it? Because of 18 Sundays September thru December. Because of Monday nights, playoffs, fantasy and gambling. Because NFL owners brandish this product to absolve their sins and we culpably grant forgiveness with our time, attention and dollar. It is sportswashing through a different lens, and it’s here on the Bill Bradley Collective.