They always have been powerful men in professional sports. Hence the title on their business cards: commissioner. Pick up the sports pages and it seems every week there is another show of force by one of them.
In the NFL, “Pacman” Jones and Chris Henry recently were given lengthy suspensions by new commissioner Roger Goodell. In the NBA, commissioner David Stern suspended longtime referee Joey Crawford this week for the rest of the regular season and playoffs. In the NHL last month, Gary Bettman gave former Avalanche tough guy Chris Simon the longest suspension in league history. In Major League Baseball, Bud Selig’s hand hasn’t been as heavy, but he has pushed for stricter punishments in recent years for violators of the sport’s drug and steroid policy.
The message from the top seems to be: We still call the final shots, and failure to fall in line will result in severe consequences.
“Commissioners are the guardians of their sport’s image and marketability, and because behavior affects image and image affects marketability, they have to step in more than in the past,” said Don Hinchey, vice president of communications at The Bonham Group, a Denver-based sports marketing firm. “Fan tolerance of misbehavior has decreased in inverse proportion to player salaries. And misbehavior cannot only affect the gate and TV viewing, but sponsorships from the many corporations that have a financial interest in that sport having a successful image.”
Of the four commissioners, Stern’s and Goodell’s names have been in the news most often of late. Stern sent shock waves throughout the league with his suspension of Crawford, considered by many the best referee in the NBA. Stern has been tough on players in the past, including nailing the Nuggets’ Carmelo Anthony with a 15-game suspension for fighting this season. But Stern has sided with referees despite criticisms some were growing more petulant in their on-court demeanor.
Players already had gotten the message Stern was the boss, with his no-tolerance-for-complaining policy, a dress code instituted last year and a lack of hesitation to levy lengthy suspensions for bad behavior. If referees were under the impression they were immune to a code of conduct, they aren’t anymore.
Officials from the NBA Players Association and National Basketball Referees Association did not return calls for comment, but Hall of Famer Rick Barry, no stranger to run-ins with referees during his career, said Stern was justified to suspend Crawford.
“It’s like when the coach suspends his best player on a team. It sends the message to everybody else that, ‘Hey, if he’s willing to do that to a guy like Joey Crawford, he certainly isn’t playing favorites with anybody,”‘ said Barry, an NBA talk-show host on Sirius radio. “I’m a little surprised he was suspended through the playoffs, but I think he did the right thing.”
The NBA’s TV ratings have waned in recent years, which may partly explain Stern’s crackdown. On March 25, the NBA’s Sunday game of the week on ABC between Phoenix and Sacramento drew an all-time low 1.0 national rating, fewer viewers than the NHL game on NBC between Pittsburgh and Boston.
In the NFL, it appears Goodell, as the new boss in town, is trying to send a strong message to players that he won’t be a pushover. The suspension of Tennessee’s Jones is for the full 2007 season, while Cincinnati’s Henry is for the first eight games. Both were suspended for violating the NFL’s personal-conduct policy, but Goodell’s rulings were unusual because legal cases with both players have yet to be decided.
While he would not comment specifically on the suspensions, NFLPA spokesman Carl Francis said Goodell has not overstepped his authority.
“The NFLPA has been very supportive of the personal-conduct codes,” Francis said.
Bettman and Selig haven’t gotten as many headlines lately as Stern and Goodell, but Bettman handed Simon a 25-game suspension in March for taking his stick to the head of the New York Rangers’ Ryan Hollweg. And Bettman orchestrated one of the biggest shows of power by any commissioner in sports history when he headed the NHL into a lockout that resulted in a cancellation of the 2004-05 season.
Selig has faced heated criticism for, among other things, being too cozy with ownership and taking too long to make decisions on player conduct or the steroid issue. The Major League Baseball Players Association remains the most powerful players’ union in sports, although it has given ground on the drug issue when facing political pressure.
And, as baseball has seen in the past, the commissioner can wield enormous power. Just ask Pete Rose.
Staff writer Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
