The Fix Is In
Listen to author Brian Tuohy’s interview on ESPN radio
“Skeptical fan” Brian Tuohy believes that the hugely profitable sports leagues have covered up the truth behind their operations, that professional sports are not all about fair play but sometimes corrupt interactions with mass media and players in the sports machine.
Author Tuohy backs these charges with an explicitly-cited history of backroom dealings in football, baseball, basketball, hockey and car racing.
The Fix Is In provides the shadow history of the sports world, and the way it interacts with media and gambling operations.
Brian Tuohy’s has been interviewed by ESPN, The New York Times, and Fox Sports, and has contributed many articles to The Bleacher Report.
“With The Fix Is In, Brian Tuohy makes a compelling, fact-based argument that not everything in the sports world is as it seems — that behind the visceral thrills and feel-good hype lies a potentially dark underworld of profit motives, conflicting interests and possibly rigged competitions, in which nothing occurs by happy accident.”— Patrick Hruby, ESPN.com
The Fix Is Still In
“We’re talking about a different NFL now … before it was more about the game. Now it’s such an entertainment business. It’s turning into the WWE really. It’s like the Vince McMahon stuff. Basically, [Roger] Goodell is like Vince McMahon.”
— Cleveland Browns tackle Joe Thomas
“[The NFL is] like a spectacle of violence, for entertainment, and you’re the actors in it. You’re complicit in that: You put on the uniform. And it’s a trivial thing at its core. It’s make-believe, really. That’s the truth about it.”
— Former San Francisco ‘49ers linebacker Chris Borland
What began over 125 years ago as a homespun network of local athletic clubs and leagues to foster the love of sports has morphed into a billion-dollar entertainment industry with the fortunes of teams, cities, and players at stake. From taxpayer-funded stadiums to tax-exempt statuses, to the devastating injuries players endure, professional sports have become ripe for manipulation. And with the imminent nationwide legalization of sports betting, more money can only lead to more problems.
In this long-anticipated sequel to his seminal takedown of professional sports, The Fix Is In, internationally recognized game fixing expert Brian Tuohy reveals the truths all sports fans need to know. Based on diligent research and previously unreleased FBI files, each chapter exposes sports in a manner none of the major leagues’ broadcast partners would dare attempt.
Tuohy spares no professional sports league as he rips through lawsuits, legal entities, and financial records to expose the truth. Along the way, champions are dethroned as frauds, referees are exposed as accomplices, and legends are demolished.
Brian Tuohy is recognized as a scholarly authority by the U.S. Supreme Court and is the author of The Fix Is In: The Showbiz Manipulations of the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and NASCAR; Larceny Games: Sports Gambling, Game Fixing and the FBI, and A Season in the Abyss: Sports Gambling vs. the NFL’s Integrity. His work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, Vice Sports and Sports on Earth among other outlets.
Larceny Games
The NFL is a $10 billion-a-year business with prominent government and corporate ties—CBS, NBC/GE, Disney/ESPN, and FOX to name a few. As the late broadcaster Howard Cosell wrote in 1985, “The NFL, you see, monitors and collects just about everything that is written about it in newspapers and magazines and said about it on radio and television. . . . Like the CIA and the FBI, the NFL has its own enemies list—and I got the distinct impression that I was at the top of it.”
Although sports gambling is seen as a victimless crime, 99 percent of all sports gambling in the United States is done illegally, its untold billions of dollars directly handed by the mob. It is their top money-maker, followed closely by loan sharking activities that often accompany gamblers who cannot pay their bookies in time. When games are fixed today, the money wagered on rigged contests is trafficked through these mob-backed bookmakers.
Much of the information of this book is taken directly from FBI case files obtained through multiple Freedom of Information Act requests. The FBI held over four hundred files directly related to sports bribery, which is the legal term for game fixing and/or point shaving. These covered everything from horse racing to boxing to college athletic events to the NFL, NBA, and MLB (with a notable exception of the NHL).
“Brian Tuohy examines the connections between big-time sports, big-money gambling and organized crime, digging through previously unreleased FBI case files to pose hard questions and draw disturbing conclusions.” — Patrick Hruby, Sports On Earth
“If you’ve lost money gambling on games, there’s a reason. If you’ve won, read this before you put down your next bet. For his own good, Tuohy probably shouldn’t have written this book.” — Howard Schlossberg, Columbia College ,Chicago
“Once again, Brian shows there’s much more to professional sports than meets the eyes (or ears), He digs so deep that he’ll need a bodyguard!” — Sam Bourquin, Host, WHBC Ohio