Is it Legal for the NFL to Fix Games?

Every year there seems to be more and more talk about the NFL fixing games. I think it is due to the fact that the referees play such a large part in which teams make it through. Also, many people believe that the teams that seem to do the best are the ones that the NFL “wants to win”. It’s also easy to see why people are more suspicious these days with the exposure of all the corruption at the highest levels in the United States and elsewhere. Still, the question must be answered: Is it Legal for the NFL to Fix Games?

We wrote a pretty lengthy article not terribly long ago about Are NFL Games Fixed? We explored anecdotal evidence provided by former players in the league. Our conclusion was pretty simple: in general games are not fixed. But, have their been fixed games? Probably. However, the overall number of “fixed” games is probably miniscule when you account for the total number of games played.

Is It Legal to Fix Games?

Recently, someone posted this image in our social media feed. It was presented as a factual statement, so we decided to investigate, and here is what we found.

Fixing sporting events for the purpose of financial gain through gambling is illegal. 18 U.S.C. § 224(a) prohibits bribery that seeks to influence the results of a match. Match-fixing falls under § 224 if there is a financial incentive provided to the fixer. However, we didn’t find a specific law which prevents sports from fixing their own games for non-gambling reasons. But, the fact that the major sports leagues, like the NFL, are not listed as “sports entertainment” like the WWE is, and are presented as legitimate competitive sports, opens them up to gigantic lawsuits should the league ever be found fixing their own games.

In the world we live now where many millions of dollars are legally wagered on each game, every single person who lost money on an NFL game which was fixed by the league could sue them. Recently, we got just a hint of this when Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy threatened to sue the league for possibly not disclosing the full extent of QB Joe Burrow’s wrist injury before a Monday Night game. The Bengals deny that there was any hidden injury. But, you can see how even the hint of impropriety brought about litigation talk.

The social media screenshot above is technically accurate but is misleading. It is specifically referring to professional wrestling and “sports entertainment” events and not professional sports leagues like the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL.