[The Athletic] Jeff Marek was let go because of allegedly leaking draft selections

[Svechhammer]

If this is true, wow. First of all, this kind of thing happens in every sport. Secondly, didn't Elliotte Friedman Frank Seravalli leak every single Expansion Draft pick by Seattle before it was announced? Don't remember seeing this same energy from the sportsbooks over that.

And also, if the Nevada Gaming Control Board (and the league, for that matter) is so concerned with the integrity of the sport, where is the outrage over Game Management? The league openly manipulates the final outcome, they've admitted to doing it. How is that not directly in contrast to everything the NGCB is for? I mean, we all know why, but still.

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[GarlicbreadTB]

I know we had a thread on it before but this seems to be the official reason.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Sneaky sneaky, Jeffrey.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Jerk

 

[Dr Pepper]

If this is true, wow. First of all, this kind of thing happens in every sport. Secondly, didn't Elliotte Friedman leak every single Expansion Draft pick by Seattle before it was announced? Don't remember seeing this same energy from the sportsbooks over that.

And also, if the Nevada Gaming Control Board (and the league, for that matter) is so concerned with the integrity of the sport, where is the outrage over Game Management? The league openly manipulates the final outcome, they've admitted to doing it. How is that not directly in contrast to everything the NGCB is for? I mean, we all know why, but still.

It was Frank Seravalli, and I think one of the repercussions was his exit from TSN as a result.

 

[Hodge]

People don't seem to understand the fundamental difference between this and Seravalli leaking the expansion draft or Corey Pronman tweeting the picks out a few minutes early during the Zoom draft.

Marek works for the rights holder and was being informed of the selections by the NHL before they were officially announced in order to facilitate on-air interviews with the prospects. Leaking that information is not legitimate reporting.

 

[amnesiac]

has nothing to do with wagering

Jeff Marek's Sportsnet exit reportedly centered around tipping NHL Draft picks to a friend

Following Jeff Marek's exit from Sportsnet, a The Athletic report has details on what draft night incident allegedly led to that.

awfulannouncing.com

 

[Golden_Jet]

It was Frank Seravalli, and I think one of the repercussions was his exit from TSN as a result.

It was Seravalli, but that’s not why he left.
The NHL screwed that up, their tv coverage was 10 hours after the leak. If you don’t want leaks do it live.
Marek screwed up, especially with betting now allowed.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

They did Merek a favor. He'll make more money after he starts his own podcast and/or podcast network.

 

[John Price]

so he was leaking shit

smh can't be doing that

 

[Buttonwood]

I like Marek and definitely willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he screwed up.

Your boss paid a lot of $$$ to get the broadcast rights to an event and you get confidential information from that for purposes of doing your job... and you send it to a unaffiliated third-party for him to gain twitter traction? Not the most egregious thing in the world (I never even heard of the guy posting it and thought I was pretty dialed into twitter during draft) but it was a real-world lack of judgement that has a real-world consequences. It sucks.

 

[RangerBoy]

The NHL whored itself out to the gambling companies. Pinto was nearly banned from the sport. The NHLPA got involved and they negotiated a 40 game suspension for Pinto. Marek lost his job. You can't watch a game without a gambling commercial being shoved in your face or some in game sponsorship. The number of goals scored in the third period is 3. Make sure you place your wager.

 

[FerrisRox]

Didn't Elliotte Friedman leak every single Expansion Draft pick by Seattle before it was announced? Don't remember seeing this same energy from the sportsbooks over that.

Jeff Marek was given the confidential draft pick information directly from the NHL. He was granted this information so he could be prepared for the draft pick interviews that directly follow the selection.

Seravelli learned of the Expansion Draft picks through reporting. He wasn't "leaking" any information that was given to him. He was reporting.

There's a huge difference. What Seravelli was doing was his job, what Marek did was a huge breach of the agreement his employer, Sportsnet and the NHL had for the telecast of this event.

These aren't remotely the same thing.

 

[FiveTacos]

so he was leaking shit

smh can't be doing that

Yeah, when he started leaking leaking gas he should have run to the restroom right away. Amateur.

 

[RangerBoy]

so he was leaking shit

smh can't be doing that

Everyone leaks draft picks.

 

[Hodge]

The NHL whored itself out to the gambling companies. Pinto was nearly banned from the sport. The NHLPA got involved and they negotiated a 40 game suspension for Pinto. Marek lost his job. You can't watch a game without a gambling commercial being shoved in your face or some in game sponsorship. The number of goals scored in the third period is 3. Make sure you place your wager.

This has nothing to do with gambling companies. Nobody is live betting the NHL draft order. Marek was being fed the picks ahead of time by the NHL and leaked them to his buddy who was idiotic enough to actually tweet them out. How can the league ever trust this guy again?

 

[hangman005]

so he was leaking shit

smh can't be doing that

Depends.

 

[FerrisRox]

The NHL whored itself out to the gambling companies. Pinto was nearly banned from the sport. The NHLPA got involved and they negotiated a 40 game suspension for Pinto. Marek lost his job. You can't watch a game without a gambling commercial being shoved in your face or some in game sponsorship. The number of goals scored in the third period is 3. Make sure you place your wager.

What does any of this have to do with the topic we are discussing?

 

[EdJovanovski]

Hope he goes to jail for this

 

[Reality Czech]

If this is true, wow. First of all, this kind of thing happens in every sport. Secondly, didn't Elliotte Friedman leak every single Expansion Draft pick by Seattle before it was announced? Don't remember seeing this same energy from the sportsbooks over that.

And also, if the Nevada Gaming Control Board (and the league, for that matter) is so concerned with the integrity of the sport, where is the outrage over Game Management? The league openly manipulates the final outcome, they've admitted to doing it. How is that not directly in contrast to everything the NGCB is for? I mean, we all know why, but still.

If he was leaking other teams' draft picks before they were publicly announced, I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised why he was let go. If another team knows who is about to be drafted it might change their strategy or at least give them an advantage. Not even close to comparable to an expansion draft where only one team was drafting players. Also not sure why people are bringing up the gambling as that has nothing to do with this situation.

 

[Dr Pepper]

The NHL whored itself out to the gambling companies. Pinto was nearly banned from the sport. The NHLPA got involved and they negotiated a 40 game suspension for Pinto. Marek lost his job. You can't watch a game without a gambling commercial being shoved in your face or some in game sponsorship. The number of goals scored in the third period is 3. Make sure you place your wager.

"Please gamble responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call THIS number. Paid for by OLG!.....there, we've done our part!"

-Ontario lottery execs, probably

 

[Evergreen]

Nobody allows bets to be placed on draft picks a minute before they are announced publicly for this exact reason. There was no chance anybody was going to be making money on bets as a result of Seidel’s Twitter posts.

I think the sketchiest part of the story was actually Seidel insinuating that his accurate predictions were a product of his knowledge of prospects rather than insider information.

 

[BondraTime]

This has nothing to do with gambling companies. Nobody is live betting the NHL draft order. Marek was being fed the picks ahead of time by the NHL and leaked them to his buddy who was idiotic enough to actually tweet them out. How can the league ever trust this guy again?

Sediel has been doing this for the past 5 years, he's gotten the entire 1st round almost unanimously correct since 2019. NHL isn't unaware of a guy working for the Barrie Colts going 20/20 on who is being picked minutes before the pick is made for years.

Hasn't been an issue until this year, and it makes sense with gambling having a stranglehold on sports and the draft happening in Vegas with the Nevada Gaming Commision

 

[stl76]

Punishment seems overly harsh for the alleged “crime” IMO. Still, seems like leaking info in this instance would be serious enough that Marek’s employer was probably within their rights to fire him (if all this is true). Just kind of a bummer all around.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Wait, I’m confused (and I guess naive) with this whole situation.

Marek knew who teams were already taking beforehand? Like what if San Jose decided Demidov was worthy over Celebrini?