Chris “Mad Dog” Russo was openly miserable earlier this month when ESPN left him out of its Roger Goodell interview on First Take despite scheduling the interview during Russo’s Wednesday slot.
In an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show on Friday, Russo gave a more serious answer as to what we would have asked Goodell if given the opportunity.
“The one thing I would have asked Roger is how do you answer the idea that you suspend every NFL player for player some sort of gambling thing, yet you make a fortune with gambling?” Russo explained. “That’s hypocritical.”
Russo elaborated on why he sees it as hypocritcal.
“So it’s OK for Arthur Blank to make a fortune with FanDuel and all the gambling ads, and if Calvin Ridley plays $1,500, he gets suspended for a year? How is that right?” Russo asked. “Either you think gambling is bad, or you don’t.
“So you can make a fortune, yet the players if they play get killed? I probably would have gone there.”
Since 2022, 11 NFL players and one NFL coach have been suspended for gambling. A 2021 report projected nearly $300 million in sports betting sponsorship revenue for the NFL.
Russo may have felt like a “piece of garbage” after being shirked by First Take producers, but this would have been a great question to ask. Not just of Goodell but all commissioners.
Leagues bring the hammer down on players to keep control of the sanctity of their games. But they pocket money from the companies that make it possible to break those rules in the first place. (And this would have been right before the league’s notable changes to its gambling policies this week.)
