I just can't watch professional sports anymore. I used to be such a junky when it came to professional sports. I watched them all: NBA, NFL, MLB and even NHL. It didn't matter ... I could not get enough. Now, I have had enough.
As ticket prices go through the roof, the level of play in professional sports continues to fall. Why? Well, I have a few ideas.
First, the earlier athletes are allowed to enter professional sports the less developed they will be. With NIL rising up, there will be more and more younger athletes enter the professional realm and all of them will be less developed. We are seeing this in college now where coaches are pressured to get talented freshman on the field or risk losing them in the transfer portal to other coaches who will play them right away.
The level of play in both the NFL and NBA has fallen. In the NBA, rule changes have prompted less set plays and more of a run and gun approach. Very few teams in the NBA run set plays anymore because there is no need. Isolations are allowed and defense is hardly played. Zone defense is played by most teams (It used to be illegal in the NBA!) and most simple play a loose zone giving up the high percentage outside shot. If you can make that shot, and Stephen Curry has made a living out of making that shot, you will make millions and never have to play defense. It is all about scoring in the NBA.
The NFL is no different. Everything has gone the way of RPO. Run, pass or option is the way of offense now. It depends on a good reaction by the QB at the line of scrimmage, but it only works if the QB is a willing participant in the option side of the RPO. Looking at the QB stats, we see only a few with quality stats; instead, we see mediocre stats, turnovers but wins because the QB is a willing runner. The running back has become less important because everything is an RPO call involving Wide Receivers, Tight Ends, Quarterbacks and Running Backs and all of them must be willing and ready to run if asked.
MLB has the same issue. We see more deterioration of skills. In 2024, only seven batters in all of MLB hit .300 or better. That one stat is amazing to me. The overall average batting average has continued to go down. In 1930 it was .282 but in 2024 the average batting average was .243, which was identical to 2022. Errors climb, Earner Run Average climbs while complete games by pitchers fall ... all signs of a deterioration of skills and a change in focus in the game from playing all phases of the game well to generate offense.
We see 40 years old playing quarterback in the NFL, pitching in MLB and playing basketball in the NBA, and all of them are doing it while getting paid millions. How good can a league be if an older athlete can still thrive? I am not debating whether they can still play, because I am sure some can, but I am debating whether any of them should still being considered one of the best because if that is the case, it just doesn't speak well for the competitiveness of the league.
I have not paid to see a professional sport in a long time, and I will not. It is hard to watch when played poorly and much of it is played poorly; it has become too political and too privileged. Too many professional athletes are not the role models I want for my children. They pout, show boat and complain, all while performing at a sub par level, and they get paid millions to play a sport. I still can't believe we pay them so much. It speaks to how out of touch we are in regard to what is important.
Professional athletes have lost touch with reality and I am waiting for reality to catch up to them as they continue to support causes that do not support their industry. Most are huge advocates of socialism, which, if ever implemented properly, would never have any kind of professional athletics as there would be no disposable income to spend on them. I believe we are coming to the point where there will be no professional sports anymore and every professional athlete will only have themselves to blame as they continue to kick around the golden goose ... the fan. The fan has never gotten less while paying more. Ticket prices continue to rise, which makes a family experience so expensive that most families can no longer afford the experience. Athletes support causes that actually go against the family and yet, expect the family to show up each weekend in support of their anti-family antics. They whine when questioned about effort, they take games off just to rest and they do all this asking to be paid more and more.
Eventually, the game and the experience will have gotten so poor that the fan will no longer be willing to make the financial commitment. This is where I think Adam's Smith economic theory will kick in. Athletes have not been shy asking for more money based on Smith's concept of free trade. Smith argued that a human being's natural tendency toward self interest will result in prosperity. Professional athletes have gotten rich on this concept, but the concept, I believe, will be pushed back onto them from those who have made them rich, especially if the product is mediocre, and the product is quickly become mediocre. This is where professional sports is, in my opinion.
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