The Collective’s Eleven

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts appraise the landscapes of both the fantasy sports and sports gambling industries in the U.S., and the ever-closing intersectionality between the two. No this is not a never-ending fable of bad beats and variance-induced injustices perpetrated at the expense of the members of this panel, but rather a discussion about the effects the increasing omnipresence of fantasy leagues across all sports and the inevitability of legalized and regulated sports betting nationwide has had and will continue to have on how we as fans consume the games we love. As the two biggest operators in fantasy sports have now become two of the most powerful in American sports wagering, the trio examine how the divide between the the two institutions has never been more confluent. Changes to certain fantasy norms and traditions and predictions for the landscape’s future are offered to round out the conversation. But first cometh the rants, where Ed welcomes back long-time guest and nemesis Roger Goodell with questions regarding both the newsworthiness and morality of his vaxxed-enabled ability to embrace unwilling members of the 2021 NFL Draft class, Andrew reflects on twenty years in the life of a Knicks’ fan with a toast to this season’s fruitful efforts; last and most certainly not least Zak segues into our main discussion this and next week as he laments he and super-producer Brandon’s ill-placed bets on this past week’s Ben Askren/Jake Paul foray with a critical dissection of boxing’s eco-system in the context of post-millennial social media.