List of sporting scandals

This is a list of major sports scandals:

Scandals in baseball

A cartoon ran by various newspapers in 1920 after the breaking of the Black Sox Scandal

. (The printing on The Sporting News (October 7, 1920) is available through paperofrecord.com for its subscribers).

• Black Sox Scandal (1919)
• Pete Rose gambling on baseball – Dowd Report (1989)
• For baseball doping scandals, see the "Doping scandals" section.

Scandals in college sports

• CCNY point shaving scandal: In 1951, more than 30 players at seven schools were implicated in a point shaving scheme that also had connections to organized crime. The scandal was most strongly linked to the City College of New York because several central figures had played on the school's 1949–50 team that won that season's NCAA Tournament and NIT.
• Boston College basketball point shaving scandal in 1978–79
• Southern Methodist University football scandal: In 1986, it was revealed that Southern Methodist University boosters gave football players thousands of dollars from a "slush fund" with the knowledge of university administrators. Along with a string of prior NCAA violations, this led the NCAA to level the "death penalty" on the school's football team.
• University of Michigan basketball scandal: Four players, most notably Chris Webber, were paid by a booster to launder money from his gambling operations. In some cases, the payments extended to their high school days.
• University of Minnesota basketball scandal: The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported the day before the 1999 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament that an academic counseling staffer at the university publicly acknowledged doing coursework for many basketball players.
• Baylor University basketball scandal: player Patrick Dennehy was murdered by teammate Carlton Dotson. Later, coach Dave Bliss instructed his players to lie to NCAA investigators that Dennehy dealt drugs. In the wake of these events, numerous violations of NCAA rules were discovered.
• Duke lacrosse case: a stripper hired by members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team for an informal team party in 2006 falsely accused three players of rape.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill football scandal – Over ten football players received improper benefits and committed academic fraud by turning in coursework prepared by tutors.
• 2011 University of Miami athletics scandal: Yahoo! Sports broke a story in which former Miami booster Nevin Shapiro, currently imprisoned for running a Ponzi scheme, indicated he had provided massive amounts of improper benefits to Miami players and coaches, mostly in football but also in men's basketball.
• Penn State child sex abuse scandal: In November 2011, former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, is arrested on 40 counts of sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period including incidents in Penn State's football facilities. In June 2012, Sandusky was convicted on 45 charges related to the scandal.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill academics-athletics scandal – In a follow-up to the UNC football scandal, new accusations of academic fraud arose in relation to the university's African and Afro-American Studies department and men's basketball program, men's football team, women's soccer, and other sports as well. The Wainstein Report, an independent report commissioned by UNC, revealed academic fraud that occurred over, at least, 18 years involving thousands of students and student athletes. Allegedly, thousands of student athletes were directed by the UNC administration to take "sham" classes in order to maintain eligibility.

American football scandals

• Minnesota Vikings boat party scandal (2005) – a pleasure cruise that reportedly featured sexual shenanigans by several members of the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL
• National Football League player conduct controversy (2007—present) – Various off the field incidents involving American football athletes from the National Football League, including Adam "Pacman" Jones, Terry "Tank" Johnson, Chris Henry, Ben Roethlisberger, Ray Rice, and Adrian Peterson, who earned suspensions as a result.
• 2007 New England Patriots videotaping controversy (2007) – the New England Patriots were disciplined for videotaping the opposing team's coach's signals. Coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000, and the New England Patriots were fined $250,000 and lost their 2008 1st round draft pick.
• New Orleans Saints bounty scandal (2012) – The NFL discovered that the New Orleans Saints had operated a secret slush fund from 2009 to 2011 that paid "bounties" to defensive players for big plays during games, most controversially for injuring opponents. The scheme was allegedly organized by a number of players plus defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, with the acquiescence of head coach Sean Payton. Shortly after the investigation came to light, Williams was accused of running similar schemes while he was defensive coordinator of the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans and Washington Redskins, and head coach of the Buffalo Bills. The league suspended Williams indefinitely and Payton for one year, and suspended the Saints' general manager and another assistant for parts of the 2012 season. Jonathan Vilma, a Saints player who had a major role in the scheme and reportedly offered a $10,000 bounty on Brett Favre, was suspended for the entire season, and three other players were suspended for parts of the season. However, in September 2012, an arbitrator overturned the suspensions of the players involved in the affair. Williams' suspension ultimately lasted one year.
• DeflateGate (2015) – During the AFC Championship Game, 11 of the 12 the footballs under the Patriots' control during the first half were found to be inflated below the level mandated by the rulebook.^[1] The case then became closed because of the refs failure to check the balls prior to the game. Tom Brady has since been suspended by the NFL for the first 4 games of the 2016 season.^[2]

Match-fixing scandals

• Ten of the twelve members of the gold medal-winning Spanish basketball team at the 2000 Summer Paralympics were revealed to have no disability.^[3]
• Fresno Case scandal (2004) – an attempt to rig a vote to prevent the Catalan rink hockey team from being accepted into international competition.

Ice hockey scandals

• Operation Slapshot (2006) – investigation into a gambling ring allegedly operated by National Hockey League assistant coach Rick Tocchet.

Football (Soccer) scandals

• 1980 Italian football scandal – a match fixing scandal in Italian football involving several major teams.
• 1988 Mexico national football team scandal
• 1993 French football bribery scandal – a match fixing scandal involving a 1992–93 French Division 1 match between Olympique de Marseille and Valenciennes, in which Valenciennes players were bribed by Olympique de Marseille president Bernard Tapie, through Marseille midfielder Jean-Jacques Eydelie. It is believed that Eydelie offered three Valenciennes players (Jorge Burruchaga, Christophe Robert and Jacques Glassman) ₣250,000 to "take the foot off of the gas" in a May 20 match between the sides, so that the team would be fresh to play in the Champions League Final soon after. Marseille were subsequently stripped off the 1992–93 French Division 1 title, relegated to Division 2 and handed bans from all 1993 UEFA competitions. The French Football Federation also suspended Eydelie, Robert and Burruchaga, whilst Tapie was replaced as club president by Bernard Moreau. Tapie received a prison sentence of over two years, of which he served six months and received a ₣20,000 fine, whilst Eydelie, Robert, Burruchaga and Marseille general manager Jean-Pierre Bernes were all given prison sentences and fined; Eydelie's prison sentence was a suspended sentence.
• Bundesliga scandal (2005) – a match fixing scandal in German football centering on disgraced referee Robert Hoyzer.
• Brazilian football match-fixing scandal (2005) – another match fixing scandal involving referees, this time in Brazil.
• 2006 Italian football scandal – a match fixing scandal in Italian football involving several major teams, including three of the country's four qualifiers to the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League.
• In the Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 2006 the Armenian champion FC Pyunik refused to play with an Azerbaijani team, PFC Neftchi. The team FC Pyunik defeated the Ukrainian team FC Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 in the quarter-final, when it already knew that in case of victory they will have to play against PFC Neftchi. After the match, they told the referee they wouldn't play against an Azerbaijani team, and later that evening left Moscow on an airplane. The Russian Football Union gave FC Shakhtar Donetsk a technical victory 3-0 so they could play in the half-final instead of FC Pyunik, but FC Shakhtar Donetsk declined the offer stating that "...we would really want to play in the half-final, but we don't want to get there by any other way then sport". Eventually, because no one could play against PFC Neftchi in the half-final, Neftchi were right away promoted to the final, where they defeated the Lithuanian club FBK Kaunas 4-2.^[4]
• 2011 Turkish sports corruption scandal – In July 2011, As part of a major match-fixing investigation by authorities in Turkey, nearly 60 people suspected to be involved with fixing games were detained by Istanbul Police Department Organized Crime Control Bureau and then arrested by the court. On June 2014, retrial process has started for all the convicted people.^[5][6]
• 2015 Greek football scandal emerged on 6 April 2015 when prosecutor Aristidis Korreas' 173-page work was revealed. Telephone tapping operated by the National Intelligence Service of Greece has played a significant role in the case.^[7] According to the prosecutor's conclusion, Olympiakos F.C. owner Evangelos Marinakis along with Greek Football Federation members Theodoros Kouridis, Aristidis Stathopoulos and Georgios Sarris are suspected of directing a criminal organization since 2011. The goal behind their scheme was to "absolutely control Greek football's fate by the methods of blackmailing and fraud".^[8] Referees, judges, football directors and chairmen are also involved in the scandal. All defendants deny charges. Olympiakos are the champions of the Greek Superleague at the time.
• 2015 FIFA corruption case
• 2016 English_football_sexual_abuse_scandal

Rugby union scandals

• Grannygate – scandal in March 2000 over the eligibility of Shane Howarth and Brett Sinkinson representing the Wales national team
• Kamp Staaldraad – controversial training camp for the Springboks (South Africa's national rugby union team) before the 2003 Rugby World Cup
• "Bloodgate" – A scheme by the English rugby union club Harlequins to fake an injury to wing Tom Williams to allow a blood replacement to be brought on at a critical moment in their 2009 Heineken Cup quarterfinal against Leinster. The scheme, which included deliberately cutting Williams' mouth open after the match in order to cover up the fake injury, ultimately led to Quins head coach Dean Richards being banned from the sport for three years.^[9]

Olympic Games scandals

• 2002 Winter Olympic bid scandal – A number of I.O.C. members were forced to resign after it was uncovered that they had accepted inappropriately valuable "gifts" in return for voting for Salt Lake City to hold the Games.
• 2002 Winter Olympics figure skating scandal – Dual gold medals were awarded in pairs figure skating, to Canadian pair Jamie Salé and David Pelletier and to Russian pair Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, after allegations of collusion among judges.
• Lochtegate - Four United States swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics including Ryan Lochte were involved in a scandal around an accusation being victims of armed robbery, which ultimately concluded with fines, loss of sponsorships, and statements of apology from the swimmers and various oversight organizations.

Paralympic Games

• Cheating at the Paralympic Games – In the 2000 Summer Paralympics athletes from Spain competed won the gold medal in the Basketball ID event despite the majority of players not having an intellectual disability. The fallout from this scandal saw all events for athletes with intellectual disabilities removed from the next two Summer Paralympics.^[10]

Golf scandals

• Jane Blalock cheating controversy – One of the LPGA Tour's top players, Jane Blalock, was accused of illegally marking her golf ball on the green. She was suspended and fined by the tour, but Blalock in turn filed suit and won an injunction allowing her to continue playing. Blalock eventually won her lawsuit and she and the LPGA reached an out-of-court settlement.
• Vijay Singh, a former number one golfer in the world, was suspended from the [PGA Tour] for using deer antler spray, which violates the [PGA Tour Anti-Doping Policy]. Likewise, in 1985, Vijay Singh was caught erasing his score on a hole and replacing it with a lower score after the scorecard had been signed. Once the rules officials confirmed the allegations, Vijay was banned from the [Asian Tour]. To this day, Vijay will not acknowledge that he cheated.^[11]

Cricket scandals

• John the bookmaker controversy – A scandal in which Australia's Mark Waugh and Shane Warne were paid in 1994–95 to provide information on pitch and weather conditions to an Indian bookmaker. The scandal came to light in 1998.
• Pakistan cricket spot-fixing scandal – In 2010, three Pakistan players—team captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir—were accused of involvement in a spot-fixing scheme in which they allegedly accepted large sums of money to influence specific events within a match, as opposed to an actual match result. After an investigation, the ICC banned all three from the sport for periods from 5 to 10 years. Later, Butt and Asif were tried in a London court and found guilty of charges related to the scheme, whilst Amir pleaded guilty to similar charges in the same court. All received prison sentences ranging from 6 to 30 months.

Scandals in motorsport

• 1994 Formula One cheating controversy – A number of allegations of cheating were thrown during the 1994 Formula One season, particularly to Benetton team.
• 2007 NASCAR Gatorade Duel scandal, three various incidents related to the Gatorade Duel.
• 2007 Formula One espionage controversy, commonly known as Spygate; an incident in which Scuderia Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stepney passed on a secret document to Mike Coughlan of McLaren.
• 2008 race fixing controversy, surrounding allegations in Formula One that driver Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to help his Renault F1 teammate Fernando Alonso win
• 2013 Federated Auto Parts 400 – In the final Sprint Cup race before the field was set for the 2013 Chase for the Sprint Cup, three teams—Michael Waltrip Racing, Penske Racing, and Front Row Motorsports—were found to have extensively manipulated the race finish in an attempt to secure Chase places for MWR driver Martin Truex Jr. and Penske driver Joey Logano.

Scandals in horse racing

• Horse murders—From 1975–1995 wealthy owners and trainers of show jumping horses conspired to electrocute and otherwise kill over-valued as well as under-performing animals in a 20-year-long scheme to defraud insurance companies; crimes also committed during this equestrian sports scandal include extortion, mail fraud, animal cruelty, and the murder of at least one human being.
• Fine Cotton/Bold Personality ring-in — A 1984 betting scam in which the conspirators, which included some elite figures in Australian Thoroughbred racing, substituted the far more talented Bold Personality for Fine Cotton in a low-class race. The scheme was discovered immediately after the race, and the investigation led to lifetime bans for six individuals and bans of more than a decade for at least two more.

Scandals in sumo wrestling

• Tokitsukaze stable hazing scandal (2007)

Doping scandals

• Doping in sport
• Ben Johnson's positive test for steroids after his 1988 Olympic victory in the 100 metres
• The Festina affair, a series of doping investigations and scandals surrounding the 1998 Tour de France, initially focusing on the Festina cycling team but quickly spreading to several other teams.
• The Mitchell Report, in which 88 current and former Major League Baseball (MLB) players were alleged to have used steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs
• The conviction of Bonds in 2011, later overturned, on obstruction of justice charges related to the BALCO investigation
• Operación Puerto (2006) – a Spanish investigation into a doping scheme allegedly involving many top cyclists, including several potential contenders in the 2006 Tour de France
• Floyd Landis doping case (2006) – Floyd Landis, initially the winner of the 2006 Tour, tested positive for synthetic testosterone and was stripped of his title.
• Doping at the 2007 Tour de France – The 2007 Tour de France was rocked by a series of doping scandals. Two riders, including pre-race favorite Alexander Vinokourov, were disqualified for doping offenses. Both teams involved pulled out of the Tour. A third rider, who had abandoned the Tour after a crash, was revealed to have tested positive for testosterone before the Tour. The race leader, Michael Rasmussen, was removed from the Tour by his team with four stages left amid questions surrounding his possible involvement in doping.
• Lance Armstrong doping case (2012) – After having been accused of doping for much of the latter part of his career, Lance Armstrong became the subject of an investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency. The USADA report revealed that he had engaged in a highly sophisticated doping campaign from 1998 onward. Following the report, the UCI stripped all of Armstrong's results and awards from that time forward, including his then-record seven Tour de France wins.
• Biogenesis baseball scandal (2013) – More than a dozen MLB players were found to have received PEDs, mainly human growth hormone, from a now-defunct anti-aging clinic in the Miami area. In all, 13 players received suspensions of 50 or more games, with the longest being given to Alex Rodriguez (162 games) and Ryan Braun (65 games). The number of players suspended is the most for any single incident in the history of organized baseball in North America.

References

External links

• ArmchairGM's Top 25 Sports Scandals