So this previous year has displayed quite prominently why our commissioners all need to disappear, and pave the way for fresh minds. Whether it’s the disaster that is the NHL, the mishandling of the NFL, the unmet potential of the MLB, or the pure sadness that is the NBA, the leaders of the major leagues in the United States have made some very questionable and ridiculous moves.
Let’s start with MLB. This league is the only one of the four that is actually on the upswing, but it can do so much better….if it stopped acting so old. The World Baseball Classic, a potentially epic worldwide event, is being reduced into a marketing blitz the size of the Little League World Series. He has not reduced the season to cater better to the baseball fans, he has not improved instant replay even though the solution is very simple (each team gets three challenges per nine innings, 5th umpire at the booth) and has done a miserable job improving the multi-media and the online functions of MLB on the internets. Good luck finding a baseball clip on YouTube for example, even though viral marketing is one of the easiest moneymaking habits in existence.
Let’s continue with the NFL. This league mishandled the BountyGate scandal so poorly it required another commissioner to clean up the mess. They want to play over in Europe for some stupid reason, while continuing to screw over the fans with Thursday football and crazy-arse blockout restrictions. They want to increase the season total to 18 games while continuously avoiding the issue of football games being more and more dangerous and less and less family-oriented. The NFL has not been as exciting as in previous years because of the increase in flags, the overprotection of quarterbacks, and just the nullification of tough defense. This is football, it’s supposed to be rough and violent---wimping it too much reduces the quality of play altogether.
Oh, good ol’ NBA. We’ve watched franchise after franchise fall apart under the eyes of Stern (Grizzlies, Hornets, Sonics, and now Kings) while small markets continuously struggle to maintain an audience and maintain relevance. We watched two lockouts drain momentum, while see the playoffs expand into ridiculous proportions. It should never take three months to play the playoffs, regardless of sport. The season remains too long and although the quality of the league has improved in recent years, this sport can still be a tough pill to swallow.
And oh the NHL. Oh, geez. Three lockouts in 20 years. Teams have folded. Great franchises have been reduced to nothing. Marketing has been abysmal. They still won’t fix the fighting issue in the sport. Their playoffs, as fun as they can be, is still quite long. But worst of all, this league will not show signs of improvement if the labor issues continue to haunt the entire institution.
So with these leagues letting me down in my eyes and in the eyes of other fans, how can we solve this dilemma?
How can we prevent it from getting any worse?
Bill Simmons did bring this up months earlier, but my election idea was more inspired by the Obama-Romney war that was created last year. Ok, I may have blurted the solution before the grand introduction: Commissioner Elections.
That’s right, the commissioners should run on specific terms and on their final year we hold a worldwide election consisting of several candidates debating on which direction the sport should take. This way the list of Unions involved and connected with the league can see who they get to see run the organization and formulate deals with the new (or re-elected) leader. The commissioners are voted in with a mix of votes from the players, the owners, and ultimately the fans.
We can hold debates throughout the off-season amongst the candidates (airing this in prime time would keep interest in the sport even if there were no games on the horizon) so we can see their stance on all the major issues plaguing the sport. We can do it in the fashion of Pardon the Interruption, in which they get a time window to discuss the issues and reveal their opinions and ideas towards the topics. And after a couple weeks of debates, there will be one day in which all the votes can be casted. After a week of counting the new commissioner is revealed. All of America can vote American Idol style on who they believe should be the next commissioner.
The vote will be split into three parts: The Owner Vote, the Player Vote, and the Fan Vote. Whomever can win the most categories becomes the next commissioner for seven years---spanning the length of the contract with the Unions. This way, the commissioner can run on his or her specific terms with the groups involved with protecting the staffing of the league. With these elections, we never have to worry about someone overstaying their welcome, and we will see commissioners more willing to make decisions that can make fans happy as well as owners.
Forcing this election will guarantee that certain issues like drug use, instant replay, salaries, contractions/expansions/major moves are done more diligently. With a time limit and potentially losing the job in the long run, I can guarantee you more work will be done.
Baseball will stop being so old, hockey will stop having work stoppages, the NFL will stop being so ******g greedy, and the NBA will stop being so stupid.
Of course, there is only one way this can actually happen…………………………a commissioner must come up with this and approve it.
Good luck America.
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