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Long post in bound...
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, especially as the amount of time I spend watching sports has dropped off a cliff these past few years.
Yes, money has always been part of sports, but it’s gotten completely out of control. Private equity is even creeping into youth sports. In Cooperstown Village now, parents and coaches can’t film their own kids. You’re required to buy their streaming service and pay for their “professional” photos. Apparently youth hockey has been doing this for years (news to me).
Then clubs constantly cry poor while strong-arming cities into funding whatever they want. Taxes go toward building stadiums and facilities that a private company controls. Then ticket prices still rise, and fans are expected to stay loyal. Why would I? Clubs offer limited entertainment and take, take, take. It’s exhausting.
The lack of transparency is just as bad. Referee/umpire calls, league decisions, even internal club operations feel deliberately opaque. I’ve watched a bunch of games across different sports recently, and in almost every case even the announcers couldn’t explain why a call stood after review. I’ll give the ACC credit for letting viewers hear the full conversation between the command center and the head official during football challenges, but most leagues just announce the ruling and move on. There’s no accountability anywhere in the chain.
And maybe part of it is oversaturation too. Just the sheer volume of sports constantly thrown at us and/or the nonstop gambling ads.
Maybe I’m looking back with rose-tinted glasses, but sports just aren’t fun for me anymore. And don’t even get me started on the mess of figuring out which streaming service has which games on which day.
In the end, everything above feels like more en****tification through relentless optimization.
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