Black Sox Scandal: A Case Study

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In 1919 in the aftermath of Black Sox scandal, led to the MLB integrating a Commissioner in their league. The MLB became the first league to input a Commissioner, the club owners agreed that the position was necessary to protect the integrity of the league the Commissioner would have a primary focus on fighting and gambling. The NFL and NBA followed suit and in 1993 the NHL joined in. Each Commissioner has the power to discipline the athletes for a wide variety of activities, both on and off the field. The can act on this power under the grant of authority by the league constitutions and bylaws, the Commissioner can regulate any conduct he believes will protect the integrity and best interests of their sports league. Each Commissioners of each …show more content…
During these CBA negotiations, the athletes have an opportunity to constructed guidelines on Commissioner power; these can include rule change restrictions and arbitration processes and reserving certain powers. The outlines of the Commissioner power are outlined during the CBA’s and they differ by league. The MLB has significant limitations on their Commissioner. In the MLB all rule changes requires notice and requires negotiations if the rules that changed deals with players benefits or adds new obligations on the players and it also gives players the chance to appeal the disciplinary decision for conduct that happened outside the playing field. The NHL’s carries a similar outline with the exception of allowing the Commissioned exclusive jurisdiction power on anything that happens outside the playing field. The NFL’s CBA, uses some of the MLB’s, but only covers playing rule, giving the Commissioner full power when it comes to punishment and players can only appeal disciplinary decisions to the Commissioner. The NBA’s CBA, give their Commissioner the most power and the commissions does not have to give notice or negotiations have to be conducted in regards to rule changes, it also grant him power for punishment on situation that happen on and off the court (Wilson,