Original source (on modern site)
Paul Bissonnette is gonna get a phone call today. The TNT hockey analyst put a steel blade on the third rail last night, suggesting that a hockey official might have action on a playoff game. Bissonnette said with a straight face (but clearly in jest) regarding a controversial call on Friday night, "I don't know if that ref's got the DraftKings sportsbook going right now, but that was kind of a BS call." Sports leagues that are cramming their pockets with sportsbook sponsorship cash (and, in the NFL's case, letting owners hold equity in sportsbook companies) are very sensitive to any suggestion, lighthearted or otherwise, that officials have action on the game. And for good reason. As NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said when the league was against gambling, normal incidents of the game will fuel allegations that the fix is in. The more that people (especially those appearing on game broadcasts) joke about the possibility, the more that some will be convinced that it actually happens. The NBA doesn't stand for it. The league recently fined Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Goebert $75,000 for making the money-sign gesture at officials during a postseason game. I don't know what the NHL will say or do about Bissonnette's remark, because I don't know enough about how the NHL reacts when employees of broadcast partners say things the league office doesn't like. I do know this. Any NFL analyst who would say something like that in conjunction with an NFL game broadcast would have plenty of free time to "get the DraftKings sportsbook going" on any and all upcoming Sundays, Mondays, and/or Thursdays.