Brent Musburger knew that adding bookmaker Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder to CBS’ The NFL Today would cause controversy in 1976. Snyder, a native of Steubenville, Ohio, had been a flamboyant character in Las Vegas gambling circles since the 1950s. The NFL was vigilant against any form of gambling. In 1963 the league suspended Paul Hornung and Alex Karras, and fined five Detroit Lions players, for betting on football games.
But Musburger knew that then NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle understood the appeal of having an oddsmaker on the show.
“One thing I did know was that Rozelle understood gambling because I frequently ran into him at the Kentucky Derby and other racetracks,” Musburger said. “I knew that Rozelle was not a dummy when it came to betting.”
Brent Musburger
With Rozelle’s blessing, Snyder joined Musburger, Irv Cross, and the late Phyllis George on the pioneering pre-game show.
Now 81, Musburger is at the forefront of another gambling-related sports venture as the lead on-air talent and managing editor at VSiN (Vegas Stats & Information Network), a multi-platform broadcasting company based at the South Point Hotel Casino in Las Vegas.
Featuring a variety of sports betting programming, Musburger has again shown his uncanny instinct for recognizing the public’s interest in sports betting.
Musburger, who also is the radio play-by-play voice of the Las Vegas Raiders, had just re-signed with ESPN to broadcast college sports on the SEC Network in 2017 when his nephew, Brian Musburger, approached him about moving to Las Vegas to join VSiN.
“Like Brian, I felt there was going to be a boom in the sports gambling business,” Musburger says, noting that it was time for him and his wife of 57 years, Arlene, “to get off the airport express train.”
“I was very familiar with the bookmakers in Las Vegas because of my association with the Jimmy the Greek, I knew a lot about the city,” he says. “All things considered I think it was just the right time.”
Since the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was struck down by the Supreme Court in May 2018, betting on sports has become increasingly mainstream. Sports networks feature shows devoted to the latest odds and trends, and sports betting is legal in 20 states, including Virginia, which launched online sports betting through a partnership between FanDuel and the Washington Football Team last week.
Brent Musburger was in the middle as Los Angeles Raiders owner Al Davis, left, receives the Super Bowl trophy in 1984 from NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle.
VSiN has since opened a second studio in Las Vegas at the new Circa Resort in downtown and has satellite studios at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and at Rivers Casino Des Plaines near Chicago.
‘People in this country love to gamble’
The explanation as to why sports gambling is increasingly prominent is simple, Musburger said.
“The reason it’s become mainstream is people in this country love to gamble,” he says. “I hear people say fishing is the No. 1 recreational activity, and I say `you’re wrong. Gambling is.’ Have you ever walked through a casino and watched people in front of a slot machine?
“Part of our culture is taking a chance, and taking a chance on a ballgame, whether it be professional or collegiate, is fun,” he adds. “You got a little juice in the game. It could be a five-dollar bill, it could be $500, it could be $5,000, it doesn’t matter, you got juice in the game. And you enjoy it.”
Part of that enjoyment stems from knowing that a sporting event is legitimate. While there have been point-shaving scandals in college basketball dating back to the 1950s, pro sports have been mostly immune from gambling controversies since Hornung and Karras were banned, save for baseball’s Pete Rose and football’s Art Schlichter.
From left, Brent Musburger, Phyllis George, Jimmy ‘The Greek’ Snyder, and Irv Cross made up the ‘NFL Today’ team.
Musburger thinks gamblers can be confident that pro athletes aren’t fixing games.
“If a person wants to bet on the NBA, for example, he is convinced, and accurately so, games are not fixed,” Musburger says. “You have to be a little bit careful that a referee is evening up a series, or you can have a crooked referee (Tim Donaghy) as we did a few years back, but you know you’re going to get an honest shake with the athletes. It would take a billion dollars – a billion dollars! – cash or bitcoin to convince LeBron James to shave a point, let alone lose a game.”
Getting `the Greek’ on NFL Today
Musburger said Rozelle had one request, which the veteran broadcaster termed as “a command.” He asked that NFL Today didn’t use the numbers “3, 7, and 10, he rattled off the key numbers just like that.”
Musburger assumed Rozelle wanted the show to find a way to discuss the games without the actual spread.
“So, of course, we agreed because knew that was the only way to get the Greek on the air,” Musburger said. “We walked backed to CBS Studios on West 57th Street (in New York) and wondered what the hell we were going to do now.”
Musburger said Snyder was just happy to be on the show. He didn’t express much concern. Musburger, however, told the show’s director Bob Fishman, and producer Mike Pearl, that the NFL didn’t want point spreads discussed.
“I don’t remember who said it first, but we did a checkboard so the Greek could pick out advantages, offense, defense, and special teams,” Musburger said. “We all thought it was brilliant because if one side has all three, and he’s praising one side, that’s a double-digit (spread); if it’s more mixed than matched, it’s lower. We thought that was brilliant.”
Snyder immediately resisted; Musburger recalled. Snyder tried to explain why the point spreads were important. However, he suggested one more item that he needed to be on the show – intangibles.
Musburger and the show’s leadership weren’t what Snyder meant, but they agreed.
“It wasn’t until a couple of years later that I understood what he was talking about,” Musburger said.
Snyder’s closest friend in the NFL was Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis. He said the NFL renegade was “was always fascinated by Las Vegas, point spreads, and the betting on the outcome of games, even though Davis wasn’t a gambler.
“But he was always curious, and the intangibles ended up being the inside gossip (Snyder) heard from various sources, and most of the time from Al,” Musburger said. “That became the Greek’s favorite, the intangibles, and the Greek himself added it.”
The late Al Davis’ son, current Raiders owner Mark Davis, moved the team from Oakland to Las Vegas and was integral in bringing Musburger in as the radio broadcaster.
Rege Behe is lead contributor to CDC Gaming Reports. He can be reached at rbehe@cdcgaming.com. Please follow @RegeBehe_exPTR on Twitter.
