Charlotte, NASCAR fans eagerly await Hall of Fame opening

Autoracing Betting Lines

05/10/2010 - Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The month of May will be unlike any other for the City of Charlotte, as Tuesday's much-anticipated opening of NASCAR's new Hall of Fame kicks off a long list of race activities in the Queen City.

Since its groundbreaking on January 25, 2007, the NASCAR HoF, located in the city's downtown area, has evolved into a 150,000-square-foot entertainment center honoring the history and heritage of the sport.

NASCAR announced in March 2006 that Charlotte was awarded the site of its Hall of Fame, with the city topping Atlanta, Kansas City, Daytona Beach, FL and Richmond, VA in its proposals to construct and fund the HoF.

It makes sense for Charlotte to have the hall, since it is NASCAR's "hub city," and since most NASCAR teams have their race shops located in the Charlotte metropolitan area.

A NASCAR hall was long overdue, since other major professional sports in this country had landmarks constructed many decades ago to house memorial items and honor illustrious athletes in their respective sports.

"I think it's huge," said Jeff Gordon, a four-time NASCAR champion. "I think it really signifies where our sport is today and its significance and the role that it plays in major sports. I think that's what the NASCAR building as well as the Hall of Fame being in Charlotte, N.C., really means."

Among some of the features in the $195 million NASCAR HoF include a 64-foot- wide curved projection screen inside a 275-seat theater and several floors of interactive exhibits and artifacts, including dozens of historic cars.

"One of our objectives was to have something for everybody, whether you are a diehard NASCAR fan or whether you have never been around the sport, whether or not you're five years old or 85 years old...if you want to see the history or do something hands on," NASCAR Hall of Fame Executive Director Winston Kelley said. "The exhibit design team did a fabulous job, and our team acquiring the artifacts and NASCAR's team helping us with us with all the props and the media videos are absolutely incredible."

The NASCAR HoF will hold its first induction ceremony on May 23. NASCAR founder Bill France and his son, Bill France Jr., a former NASCAR chairman, as well as drivers Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Junior Johnson make up the 2010 inaugural induction class.

"It feels good," seven-time NASCAR champion Petty said of his induction. "I felt like this was a race...you feel good finishing in the front five."

The five-member induction class for 2011 will be revealed later this year.

May traditionally has been a busy month for racing in Charlotte, with the running of the all-star race followed by the longest event of the season -- 600 miles -- at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

This time, Charlotteans and NASCAR fans have a lot more to roar about.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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