Honest question. Really want to see your responses.

[ForeverRoyalKC]

My question for all of you is this.... Is gambling and commercials driving you away from your sports enjoyment? First, the gambling, as we have covered on this forum, is just way out of hand and is literally making me cringe away from my headphones, radio or internet when they come on. Like I can't hit the Skip button fast enough when they come on during internet content. Or I turn my radio down and/or slip my headphones off. And that's beginning to happen A LOT.
Secondly, overall commercials are too much also. I know that's always been the case in radio with any format, but it seems to be escalating even more. I tried to listen to a 12 minute clip of 96.5 the Fan from Kansas City since I couldn't hear a show in it's entirety. In just 12 minutes, there were three commercials before the clip, three in the middle of the clip and four at the end. That's TEN commercials in TWELVE minutes. During that, I literally dropped my head and put my hands on the top of my head.
So I'm not looking as to WHY this happens, I just want to know is it making you cringe away from your sports sources in any way? Is all this starting to ruin listening to games, sports talk or other coverage?

It's really angering me as a sports fan.

Thanks.

[low]

Does it bother me? Yes.

Is it driving me away? Not so much.

Though, I've reached a point where I can mostly tune it out but I do find myself flipping off my monitor or the TV whenever an ad comes on. I really, really hate that I have to subscribe to FanDuel if I want to watch Brewers games legally.

[Cobra Mgr]

Commercials no. Gambling, yes. Simply because every screwy call from a ref or inexplicable goof by a player I scrutinize a lot more.

[Westheim]

Nope. Ads have been in sports for my entire life (and it's not like ballparks were not covered in them in 1925, either).

The gambling things needs legislation to stomp out, but I don't see that happening before, eh, 2029?

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by ForeverRoyalKC

My question for all of you is this.... Is gambling and commercials driving you away from your sports enjoyment? First, the gambling, as we have covered on this forum, is just way out of hand and is literally making me cringe away from my headphones, radio or internet when they come on. Like I can't hit the Skip button fast enough when they come on during internet content. Or I turn my radio down and/or slip my headphones off. And that's beginning to happen A LOT.
Secondly, overall commercials are too much also. I know that's always been the case in radio with any format, but it seems to be escalating even more. I tried to listen to a 12 minute clip of 96.5 the Fan from Kansas City since I couldn't hear a show in it's entirety. In just 12 minutes, there were three commercials before the clip, three in the middle of the clip and four at the end. That's TEN commercials in TWELVE minutes. During that, I literally dropped my head and put my hands on the top of my head.
So I'm not looking as to WHY this happens, I just want to know is it making you cringe away from your sports sources in any way? Is all this starting to ruin listening to games, sports talk or other coverage?

It's really angering me as a sports fan.

Thanks.

I think anger is a little too strong a word to use for me. Disgust would probably be more appropriate.

I know of several people who's lives have been trashed by their inability to NOT gamble. These cute little 1-800 numbers aren't doing a damn thing..just like the warning labels on smokes and alcohol.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Nope. Ads have been in sports for my entire life (and it's not like ballparks were not covered in them in 1925, either).

Yes, and then leagues found revenue sources (TV, Radio, large season-ticket bases), that were far beyond the few extra pennies that corporate graffiti on the player and playing surface could bring in and made the logical decision that looking classy built better loyalty than whoring the sport out for every fly-by-night that came along. And so for 30-40 years (including the entire first half of my life), our Temples of Sport were as free from creeping commercialism as [semi-blasphemous Jesus analogy, you can do it yourself].

This represented progress, IMO. Seeing it being rolled back has been a bitter pill to swallow, just as much those free from the American commercials you're shocked by, Westie, would hate to see them all over German television.

Also, gambling sucks big-time, as most agree. (As a former gambler, the most-galling thing is the promotion of random betting on ridiculous micro-propositions ["Will Indiana call 'heads' or 'tails'?"] which is IMO a truly blunt way to separate the suckers from their dough. At least when I bet the plane fare that the 76ers could dominate Seattle, I had reasons for that.)

[Hrycaj]

The more I was over saturated with gambling ads the less I was interested in gambling. I guess it worked backwards for me. While it doesn’t make me angry, it is annoying and I really worry what it is doing to people. It started with fantasy sports maybe, and I have talked about this in another thread, but I think many people don’t even watch games for the enjoyment of the sport. They just want to see scoring plays. I like watching games unfold and I do not need to have money invested in the outcome to enjoy it. So I feel lucky that I recognize that about myself and can simply watch sports in that way.

[Cod]

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.

[monkeyman576]

I think it's hypocritical for leagues to criticize gambling scandals but still take the gambling money. Other than that, it's a sign of the times.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by ForeverRoyalKC

My question for all of you is this.... Is gambling and commercials driving you away from your sports enjoyment?

Yes, but they are only a couple of items on this list that I compiled which in turn explains my relative scarcity these days:

What is wrong with professional sports today?
------------------------------------------------------------
• "Win a championship — anything else is failure"
• Head coach / manager carousel
• Obscenely large salaries and profits
• Rising costs of attending and viewing games
• "Balkanization" of sports viewing opportunities
• Lack of player loyalty to team / school / city
• Sports gambling possibly tainting results
• Ubiquitous, relentless, juvenile commercials
• Cheating / performance enhancement drugs
• Too much analysis and statistics
• Obnoxious, vulgar fans
• Frequent player injuries

The microbetting pitching scandal was the last straw.

[ezpkns34]

I rarely watch regular season games in any sport anymore. 1-2 college football games a week depending on the matchups. Even for the NFL, I only watch Red Zone during the 1pm slot a vast majority of the time while occasionally watching the odd "Big Regular Season" game outside of that Red Zone slot

So I'm rarely ever subjected to the gambling ads, but I also never ignored the possibility of gambling tainting plays before it was legalized

What drove me off the most from regular viewership was how little flow most games have. Hockey is the only one that seems to have avoided this of the ones I would watch. NFL seems to pause 40 times a game to wax poetic on what's a catch or if the edge of a player's shoe touched white paint and the NBA fell in love with free throws. Tired of watching players initiate contact while shooting and the defense get called for a foul, another thing that seemed to happen constantly

I'll take some human error if it leads to a smoother viewing experience, but I also wasn't a die hard fan of any teams, so I watch solely for the enjoyment of the sport without any real concern of the outcome outside of preferring to see certain teams lose cause I find their fans annoying

[ForeverRoyalKC]

There is one thing I forgot to include in this...the "ads" spoken before news, interviews, etc.

"On the line now, we have Chiefs coach, Andy Reid, brought to you by Joe Blow's Chevy Emporium and garage, if you need a car of quality and extreme satisfaction for your wallet, come on down to Joe Blow's Chevy Emporium. Where we have what you need for the entire family. Now Andy, the Chiefs.........."

EVERYthing is an ad or commercial or sponsor slot. I hope I don't start doing it myself in regular conversation. Calling my mom to see how she's doing.....
"Hi mom, how are you? I just wanted to call and see how you're feeling today. By the way, Walmart has all your Christmas shopping needs. From clothes to fine cookware, sporting goods or getting your car fixed, Walmart is the place to go. So, how was your doctor's appointment yesterday?"

[Jason]

Originally Posted by ForeverRoyalKC

My question for all of you is this.... Is gambling and commercials driving you away from your sports enjoyment? First, the gambling, as we have covered on this forum, is just way out of hand and is literally making me cringe away from my headphones, radio or internet when they come on. Like I can't hit the Skip button fast enough when they come on during internet content. Or I turn my radio down and/or slip my headphones off. And that's beginning to happen A LOT.
Secondly, overall commercials are too much also. I know that's always been the case in radio with any format, but it seems to be escalating even more. I tried to listen to a 12 minute clip of 96.5 the Fan from Kansas City since I couldn't hear a show in it's entirety. In just 12 minutes, there were three commercials before the clip, three in the middle of the clip and four at the end. That's TEN commercials in TWELVE minutes. During that, I literally dropped my head and put my hands on the top of my head.
So I'm not looking as to WHY this happens, I just want to know is it making you cringe away from your sports sources in any way? Is all this starting to ruin listening to games, sports talk or other coverage?

It's really angering me as a sports fan.

Thanks.

I live in southern Missouri so I'm with you. I'm so freaking sick of all these commercials for sports gambling now that it's legal. I don't need to hear about it between every inning or at every time out.