Adam Silver is trying to become a trend setter when it comes to help professional sports teams and leagues migrate the world of legalized sports wagering.
According to ESPN.com, Silver, during an interview with ESPN the Mag, Silver admitted that he’s been working with the other leagues to transition to a healthy relationship with sports betting.
“I have talked to the commissioners in the other leagues about [legalizing sports betting],” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in an exclusive interview with ESPN The Magazine in late January at the league’s Manhattan office. “I leave it to them to make any public statements they want to make on it. I will say that certainly all of them are interested in having a better understanding of the issue, and I know have assigned people in their organizations to study intensively the issue as well.”
Silver is the only active commissioner to come out publicly in support of legalization. He wrote an op-ed in The New York Times in November that called for Congress to create a federal framework and allow states to authorize betting on pro sports.
The other major professional sports leagues are not the same page at all. Reports those with knowledge the meetings came away believing the NHL is more open to legalization than Bettman’s comments indicate. The NHL did not respond to multiple requests for comment.