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For a change, baseball is benefiting from its diminished profile in the American sports landscape.
Reports that the federal government is investigating the St. Louis Cardinals for hacking into the computer systems of the Houston Astros have received plenty of attention, but not the kind of over-the-top, mainstream focus that would have resulted from a similar allegation involving an NFL team — especially if that team were the New England Patriots. But it should be a bigger deal because, unlike the various cheating scandals that periodically pop up in the NFL, baseball’s current black eye involves not a violation of the rules of the game but potential violations of federal law.
Some will wonder whether NFL teams have done similar things under the guise of “all’s fair in love, war, and football.” It’s entirely possible that, over the years, state and federal laws technically have been broken by those looking to gain an edge on the gridiron.
While the NFL has not yet faced a scandal of this magnitude, the decision of the FBI to investigate the Cardinals should serve as a FIFA-style reminder to the NFL that Congress isn’t the only branch of the government to worry about. The bigger the NFL gets, the more likely that someone with one of the various federal agencies having responsibility for enforcing the laws of the land will get curious about the way a specific type of business is done by the NFL and/or its teams, develop a hunch, act on it, and possibly uncover enough evidence to secure an indictment.
So beyond the proprietors of pro football being thankful that this case doesn’t involve Cardinals that used to be in St. Louis, the deeper message is, “Be careful, or the feds are gonna get you next.”
