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For those in that other thread who keep insisting that the Superbowl is the biggest sporting event in the world.
Live notes from the press conference.
Stern says in opening statement: (he is very somber and subdued, sounds like he's announcing that someone died.)
Can't tell everything now, but enough has gotten out that we need to have a press conference.
Refs may not gamble on games or provide information to others about games. Violators are fired. We educate referees and set work rules.
We have a strong security department with ex-FBI, Secret Service, Army, NYPD people. Every team has a security representative, normally ex-federal or local law enforcement people. They also work with DEA, Homeland Security, and the FBI Organized Crime sports betting section. The security department does extensive security checks on referees, including credit and financial background checks.
The NBA also retains a Las Vegas consultant who looks at unusual betting movements, and works with the Nevada Gaming Board as well.
Since the 2003-2004 season, they capture every call and non-call that a referee makes. They have 30 observers, one at each team's location, who chart the game with respect to calls and other observations. They they review the game on tape. Selective games are audited by a group supervisor. They've also added additional observers to "audit the auditors". The primary purpose was to aid in development of the officials and improve the quality of their work, it was not designed to screen for criminal activity.
In January 2005 the NBA learned Tim Donagy was in disputes with his neighbors that led to litigation. The NBA investigated and called in Donagy, who told them that the allegations against him were untrue and he was being harassed, not the other way around. At that time someone told their investigators on the ground that Donagy had gambled at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City (there is no sports betting there). He had denied that he did that, they investigated whether he was in any casinos, and it came up negative -- there was no evidence of this. The NBA told Donagy that they did not expect their referees to get into disputes like this. In the 2005-2006 season he was not given any work after the 1st round of the playoffs as a direct consequence of his conduct with his neighbors, and was told any additional problems would cause him being fired. He moved to Florida and there were no more issues of any kind, and his yearly background checks showed nothing that raised su ion. Donaghy was rated in the top tier of accuracy in his calls.
On June 20 the NBA was called by the FBI about Donaghy. We appreciate the FBI's and the Justice Department's efforts and cooperation with the NBA. The NBA is providing them the information they are requesting on an ongoing basis. I cannot comment at this time on the investigation or on the information we've exchanged, but here's my understanding of the accusations.
He is accused of betting on NBA games. We are not positive it's games he worked, but that is our understanding. We believe he also betted on other games he did not work. He will also be accused of providing information to others to give them an edge in betting on NBA games. I don't know how many games, I don't know which games, and I am constrained by the FBI's request that we not communicate this to everybody, so I had not deployed large numbers of people to investigate.
On July 9 Donaghy resigned. We would have terminated him earlier but the FBI requested we not do that.
The time period being investigated is the past 2 seasons. Donaghy did 139 regular, 8 playoff games. (not sure these numbers are right - ed.) At this point we understand Donaghy is the only referee being investigated. Let me make it clear all this is my current understanding and I await the outcome of the investigation. All my knowledge is 2nd hand. But given the level of interest I felt obligated to hold a press conference and the FBI knows I am doing this. If additional facts are uncovered we will make them available as we learn them.
There's been speculation that we knew Donaghy was betting earlier than this and we let him work anyway. This is not true.
We are bringing in consultants and working to see what we can do to continue to assure fans that the outcome of games is fair. In my 40 years of experience with the NBA this is the worst situation I have ever seen. We take our obligations seriously, and I pledge we will do everything possible to analyze our processes and see if there are changes that need to be made. Doing the best you can doesn't always mean that criminal activity by a determined person can be prevented. The best we can do is have good processes and large deterrents. We want to reaffirm our covenant with our fans. We believe that our officials are the best in the world and we believe our games are decided on their merits.
Questions:
Within the past 2 seasons you or anyone in the NBA did not receive information on his gambling? No.
Are you surprised that this slipped through the cracks given your security processes? Yes. But no more than the FBI or CIA when rogue employees turn on their country despite their procedures, or when judges turn out to be corrupt despite their oath or those processes. This is small consolation. What else could be have done and what else can we do? I will call in the best minds I can to investigate and determine what is legally possible to forestall this in the future. We cannot wiretap becuase it's illegal, we won't do 24 hour survelliance.
What emotions did you feel when you heard this? We ins uted the statistical database, we ins uted the annual security background checks. We followed the German soccer league referee scandal and we tried to learn what we could do better from that. My reaction was, I can't believe this happened to us.
What have you been doing since the story broke? After this press conference I'm going to the NBA family picnic to assure them that we are moving ahead. Most importantly we have been preparing for this press conference, and seeking expert guidance on what we can do beyond what we are now. Other leagues may do things better than we do and we will adopt changes. Mostly we have been preparing to get everything out in a press conference. We wanted to have in Monday but additional "conversations" precluded that. (ed: he's being mysterious here).
You've always been protective of the referees. What will you do to make the system more transparent, and how will you assure the players the game is fair? We have here a rogue isolated criminal and we will wait for the investigation to complete. I still have to be protective of my officials including those that will be unfairly besmirched. They get it right most of the time, they get it wrong sometimes, sometimes they are not as modest as we would prefer. I will continue to protect them while making sure we keep our convenant with our fans. With respect to transparency, I will work this summer to see what we will do. I do need to protect the referees' confidence. We will continue to work to get their accuracy level up. We'll continue to recruit. We'll continue to bear the expense to work 3-person rotations in the WNBA and the NBADL so that upcoming referees can get the most experience.
How do you feel about what happened? I feel betrayed. This is nothing more than an act of betrayal of a sacred trust.
Describe your thoughts about reports of mafia ties and reported death threats? I have no information on this other than what you have. (He goes on to bash the media's 24/7 coverage of this and its spin cycle/rumor cycle, gently).
How certain are you this is an isolated incident? I think I was just asked when did I stop beating my wife. (My he's getting testy here). Based on my current understanding this is an isolated incident. We welcome the most intensive investigation because they can do things I cannot do legally. We are glad and continue to cooperate. I've been directed not to comment on the current investigation.
Did Donaghy make calls that affected the outcome of games? My understanding is that he is currently being accused of betting on games and providing information. I don't know that there's any accusations of fixing games.
Do you know how he avoided security? I have a strong idea but I cannot say more due to the ongoing investigation. It wasn't through Las Vegas.
How are refs treated for home/family/stress situations? We have an employee assistance program. Donaghy asked us to help him have his neighbor stop harassing him.
Did you fire him or did he resign? He resigned. He sent us a letter. We did not terminate him earlier because we did not want to influence the investigation.
Have you talked to him? No just his lawyer.
Reports about anger management situations in Philadelphia, on a golf course, a postal worker, and involving another referee. Did this not warrant action? We investigated the reports and interviewed those with which he disputed. We told him that if these things happened again he would be terminated, and punished him by pulling him off a round of playoffs.
At the Las Vegas ASG, you were asked if game fixing concerned you, you replied you were surprised he asked the question? I was saying that in the context of Las Vegas. Las Vegas is well regulated.
Are you clear that no player, team, or other league official is under su ion? I know of no such su iion.
Have you ever brought in any official to discuss gambling? No.
College basketball point fixing scandals devastated that sport in the 50s/early 60s. Are you concerned the NBA will be strongly affected by this? Good question. College basketball popularity is soaring, Many people bet on the NCAA brackets. The Soccer World Cup is still the biggest thing in the world of sports even though they have a referee scandal. It's my hope that we will continue to be popular.
Is Donaghy accused of bettings on games he officiated? Yes, that is my understanding, as well as betting on games he did not officiate, and giving information on games.
Are you reviewing tapes of games that Donaghy officiated? What about the Suns-Spurs series? I will await the outcome of the investigation to see if that was one of the games he bet on. We have not released the wave of people who would be required to review all of his games, but we will.
Ref monitoring system -- do you have separate cameras? No we use existing cameras, we have lots of feeds. The primarly purpose was not to screen for criminal activity. We may do that in the future, but I can't predict that yet, we haven't had our intensive review. The referees and coaches are supportive of this. We will bring in outside experts.
Las Vegas consultant alert you about Donaghy games? how common is an alert? Not common. It happened once a long time ago. It doesn't involve any current people. Had to be 20 years ago.
Is it possible to determine if a ref is cheating? Good question. It's very hard. We will give it our best shot. We will make our best judgement. If you bet on a game you are refing you lose the benefit of the doubt. That's why we don't allow betting.
Is it legal for employees to gamble if they don't bet on NBA games? The prohibition is on all forms of gambling, including slot machines and everything else. But you can go to the racetrack in the summer, that's the only exception.
How does this impact the possibility of the NBA having a team in Las Vegas? We were going to have a meeting on this, concidentally, but we've cancelled it. We will think about this this summer.
Did Donaghy gamble illegally? Should sports betting be legalized in the USA so it can be regulated and tracked? By making it legal you will encourage more people to bet. I'm going to leave that to policy makers. Historically we've made sports betting illegal in any jurisdication that did not already have it.
Any indication that any fellow refs knew about Donaghy's connections to the mob? After June 20th there was some chatter and the refs knew that. Probably from Donaghy himself.
Security checks only in the last 2 years? Why so late? What before that? We did standard employee criminal and credit checks every 2 years. We decided to to more extensive checks, yearly, before the Donaghy incident. We wanted to start in 2004 but couldn't, so we started in 2005.
Any information about motive? I can't answer that question openly at this time.
Refs can bet at racetrack in offseason? Why is that an exception? The union bargained for it. We prohibit them even being in casinos, so that was a tradeoff. We will revisit that.
Will you know what games have been compromised before the FBI completes? No, we have been directed to wait until they finish their investigation. We appreciate and support the FBI and the Justice Department and will comply with their requests.
If you do find out that playoff games have been compromised, how severe is that? I think we will maintain and regain the fans' confidence. One game being compromised is bad enough even if it's not a playoff game. It is a violation of trust.
Reports that Donaghy was near top of list on fouls and techs called? He was not near the top on techs. Someone always has to be on the top. We do see that and use it for training and remediation. Foul calling itself is not a trip wire.
Raise refs salaries to reduce temptation? Dohaghy earned $260K last season. With each year of experience that gets raised. We think that that is fair, and there are lots of people who earn a lot less than that who don't commit crimes.
How did he manage to hide this? If you're intent on being a criminal and acting alone, our country's history is replete with examples. No su ious amounts of money or anything.
What evidence do you have he's guilty of having bet on games? (long pause) His lawyer informed us he's contemplating a plea on that subject.
(ESPN lost the audio feed at this point -- there were 2 more questions that i did not hear)
The reporter reports that Stern wrapped by saying:
This is the worst thing that can happen to a pro sport.
We will take all possible actions to address this.
For those in that other thread who keep insisting that the Superbowl is the biggest sporting event in the world.
thanks
for doing this. Great job.
Superbowl is the biggest sporting event in the US. Soccer is "the " everywhere else.For those in that other thread who keep insisting that the Superbowl is the biggest sporting event in the world.
America is the world, so the SB is still bigger!For those in that other thread who keep insisting that the Superbowl is the biggest sporting event in the world.
Back on the original thread topic... great summary....
That was an awesome recap, thanks for writing it.
I wanted to watch and couldn't.
After reading this I feel like I did.
Thanks, great job.
You got to hand it to Stern. He is freaking good.
I saw the presser this morning and was stunned at how shaken Stern seemed to be. When he speaks to the media, he's usually very even in his speech and very eloquent and precise. Today, his voice was halting and he seemed to be having a hard time articulating the points that he was trying to make. He almost seemed nervous for the first few minutes.
I don't offer any of that to implicate the Commissioner or to suspect that he's lying. I think he's in a very tough spot here, because he needs to reassure his audience while at the same time not divulging any information that might threaten the investigation -- I'm sure that he's being very cautious with all that he says.
With that said, I was suprised that he spoke extemporaneously in his opening statement and didn't just read from a prepared text. His willingness to speak off the cuff gives me some odd reassurance that he's telling the truth -- I'd be far more worried about his veracity if he had been reading a prepared statement and refusing to take questions. I thought Commissioner Stern seemed forthright in his dialogue with the media during the Q&A period and I thought he was willing to answer a lot of questions and even some very difficult questions with substantive answers.
Thanks for the transcript
They've now published the official transcript also:
http://www.nba.com/news/sternpc_070724.html
Good job, Yo. Thank you.
better then that james fellow
Maybe he had a teleprompter....
Stern's legacy will be that the NBA reached its lowest point on his watch. He's history.
I take it you've seen my new bumper sticker, Shoog.
Good job with the transcript.
I tried to listen to it on the ticket but the man almost put me to sleep. His speeking style is way too sleepy for me.
Having said that, He did a great job. I understand that he stayed at the table and answered questions for more then an hour after his statement was finished. This was not a "Make an official statement and walk off the stage" situation and I give him credit for what he did.
I think that this was one person and not a wide spread problem, if it turns out to be wide spread, then the league would be almost forced to fold under the wieght of the scandle.
Having watched NBA games for some time now, all this will do is make the talk of fixed games a more permanent part of the game. Its unfortunate that this will happen because of one mans actions but there will be no way of avoiding it.
Everyone looks at each game in one of two ways "The refs were great" (Our team won) or "The refs were horrible" (Our team lost). Rare is the game that is just so well played that nobody remembers the refs, this is the way that the league is moving toward, this will not help.
In every game there are calls that are "questionable", every time a player goes to the rim, there is a foul, its only a matter of it being called or not. On every rebound there is contact and it is either called or not. There are so many judgement calls that are a part of the game today that this unfortunate cercomstance will never go away.
I fear those that blame every loss of the refs have now recieved the "Rambo" ammunition clip. (Everlasting bullets)
the nba is so ing stupid its not even funny...
hiring auditors to audit auditors to audit referees to referee referees???
you got to ing kidding me...
its just a bunch of bull .
i can watch a game an easily tell you how ed up a certain referee is and it doesn't have to be a spurs game either...
its ing wrestling... period.
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