Malicious Rigging of the 1985 NBA Draft

Presenter: Braden Woodward

Co-Presenter(s):
Mitchell Davis

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Spring

Faculty Mentor: Hillary Homzie

Department: Communication & Media Studies

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1Jc_Pp7GZUohVrLwhH1uquU7pVdAYpZkZ

Abstract:
In this podcast my best friend (Mitchell Davis) and I (Braden Woodward) talk about the economic struggles that the NBA happened upon in 1985 as well as the way that they rigged the draft in the favor of the NBA benefiting from the outcome. The NBA was struggling to fund themselves in the 1980’s as they were about to lose their CBS contract and the leagues biggest names were retiring. This caused the league to challenge the integrity and moral of sports and rig the biggest event for college basketball players up to this point. They decided instead of giving Patrick Ewing a chance to become an amazing basketball player on one of the seven teams in the lottery that they would give him only one option.