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

[KirkAlbuquerque]

so he was leaking shit

smh can't be doing that

He should go see a proctologist

 

[KCC]

Everyone was so up in arms when the news dropped that he was let go. If this was truly the reason why then he deserved it. Even though SN is awful, I'm on their side with this. Marek was a massive bonehead.

 

[FerrisRox]

I mean he does look like a snitch , not suprised , not a very big deal either

It's a big deal as journalist. It's an issue of ethics, and it's a matter that strains the relationship between the league and their official broadcaster.

Professionally, in the industry, it is kind of a big deal.

 

[rojac]

I think the league had an agreement with the network to not "leak " info because believe it or not, people bet on who the 5th pick will be etc

The league opened this Pandora's box as has been astutely stated by another poster by getting in bed with gambling entities

It's only a matter of time before game fixing will be an issue with players, refs or C all of the above

As the article states bets on NHL draft picks are closed 24 hours before the draft.

 

[FerrisRox]

The NHL insider business is riddled with conflicts of interest and shady tactics and violations of trust.

No it's not.

 

[MrNasty]

I remember years ago McKenzie would 'guess' all the top 10 picks accurately about 10 seconds before the announcment. Yeah, he was just leaking the info the same way as TSN had the rights back then.

 

[Oleksiak]

Sportsnet should worry less about this stuff and more about the dirtbags on HNIC disgracing the country every week. The amount of misconduct they allow clearly shows that they don't care about professionalism.

 

[Golden_Jet]

No loss, he wasn’t very good anyways.

 

[Djp]

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.

Something to consider.....

This other person, hid long time frirnd. Also has worked for espn. If he was sharing I go in good faith snf thrn it leaked.

I think the big concern was casino betting in vegas on pickd.

I'm curious what happened there. Was there a net surge right before pick announced.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

No it's not.

How about instead of saying three words that are a conversation ender you respond to the example I used?

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Lmfao SN let one of their best journalists go for that???? He's not going to be wanting for work. f*** gambling.

 

[JianYang]

I know the horse is long out of the barn, but gambling on sports sucks and I wish we didn't have to deal with it.

 

[MichaelFarrell]

I’m really bummed. I’ve been listening to him on Hockey Central/The Jeff Marek Show/32 Thoughts since I was in high school. I even remember when he used to cover for Darren Millard.

He always hosted a solid show imo.

 

[3074326]

At least this is nothing that is “cancellable” for Marek. He’ll pick up another job at TSN, the Athletic, or a U.S. network. He could even start his own independent podcast and do very well for himself. This sucks for him and he no doubt feels awful but his career isn’t over.

It’s a pretty big deal in his profession. His career might be over as a non-independent writer. Especially in sports.

Source: was a sports writer

 

[QuizGuy66]

A poster has said he was online betting on prior to the draft, said his last bet was 1-2 hours prior

Right but my question wasn't about placing bets close to draft time.
I'm curious if/when the online sites shut down the cash out option on bets that were already made.

 

[bigdog16]

I remember years ago McKenzie would 'guess' all the top 10 picks accurately about 10 seconds before the announcment. Yeah, he was just leaking the info the same way as TSN had the rights back then.

I think it was only a couple years ago. Worst draft ever simply because McKenzie leaked every single pick of the first round. How is what Marek did any different

 

[Scintillating10]

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.

Odd how it went down for sure. Story sounds legit

 

[Gurglesons]

It’s a pretty big deal in his profession. His career might be over as a non-independent writer. Especially in sports.

Source: was a sports writer

Katie Strang's article pretty much says the opposite. I'll trust her.

 

[tiburon12]

I can understand why Marek is in "trouble", but I don't understand why he was fired beyond the influence of big gambling.

Marek helmed a daily radio show and was part of a top podcast across all categories in Canada. That's a talent you slap on the wrist, not fire behind the curtain and wait for details to waft out.

To me, if Sportsnet solely wanted Marek gone for what he did, then they themselves would have announced it and condemned the behavior. That's the PR game we play today. To do it this way still leaves questions.

Marek made a mistake by sharing the info - no doubt about that. But what were the consequences? No one made money, Seidel is small potatoes (11k twitter followers..), no draftees were affected, no fans knew what was happening......so why fire the guy in such a secretive manner??

 

[HolyGhost]

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

there has been a lot of "innuendos" what took that discussion off the rails. This was the one most people honed in on this one. TUrns out they were correct

Here is a question. I do not do it.. but I know you were able to bet on players up to the moment they were drafted. If so, Marek could be in more trouble. My understanding is that on some apps you were able to bet on a player up to 30 second before the pick was announced

 

[Oddbob]

How exactly did he leak picks? He doesn't know who each team is picking beforehand as no team would tell him that. The picks are made live in the first round, so how can those be leaked?

 

[Golden_Jet]

How exactly did he leak picks? He doesn't know who each team is picking beforehand as no team would tell him that. The picks are made live in the first round, so how can those be leaked?

Obviously haven’t read the thread,
He was told the pick 1-2 minutes prior, for preparation to interview each pick.

 

[Oddbob]

Obviously haven’t read the thread,
He was told the pick 1-2 minutes prior, for preparation to interview each pick.

Sorry for not wanting to read 7 pages of stuff. 1-2 minutes is enough time for people to get bets in?

 

[Golden_Jet]

Sorry for not wanting to read 7 pages of stuff. 1-2 minutes is enough time for people to get bets in?

I was commenting on this.
He doesn't know who each team is picking beforehand as no team would tell him that. The picks are made live in the first round, so how can those be leaked?

Which was wrong.

 

[FerrisRox]

I remember years ago McKenzie would 'guess' all the top 10 picks accurately about 10 seconds before the announcment. Yeah, he was just leaking the info the same way as TSN had the rights back then.

He absolutely wasn't.

McKenzie didn't have that information because his guesses weren't, in fact always accurate.

Additionally, he often released his full round selections before the draft even began - long before the league would even have the information - and he would adjust his guesses on the broadcast as the order changed from his speculated picks.