Pro Say: Greed in Pro Sports: A Fan’s Dilemma

When I started writing for Competition Not Conflict, I was excited because it gave me a platform to put forth my two cents on professional sports. If you have read even a scintilla of my work here, you know that I butter my bread with NBA and NFL columns, sprinkling in a soccer column here and there (when Ken Pendleton hasn’t written one in a while). I even wrote about baseball once, but the thrust of that article was so ancillary to the sport that it doesn’t even really count.

However, I must confess: I am growing weary of pro sports. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching the NFL on Sundays (and Mondays, Thursdays, and late season Saturdays). I could watch the Cavaliers play the Clippers (and not just for fantasy purposes) on a Wednesday in November. It’s not the product on the various playing surfaces that has exhausted my love of pro sports. Even baseball is fun to watch in October and November.

No, I am sick of the off-the-field issues.

I’m not even speaking of the legal issues a myriad of athletes face every day. While I don’t wish to dismiss law breaking, growing up with the Jail Blazers hardened me to pro athletes as part-time felons. I am numb to the Ben Roethlesbergers, the Darius Mileses, and the Sean Averys. Those knuckleheads just don’t matter.

The work stoppages have worn me down. I can’t watch SportsCenter without Chris Brussard reporting on how far apart the players and the owners are at dividing the billions of dollars the NBA generates every year. Before the Brussard updates, it was the Adam Schefter reports on how far apart the NFL players and owners were on splitting the “growing pie” of revenue. Three years ago it was hockey. Before then, the NBA (again).

I think it’s the NBA lockout (this year’s model) that has really driven me to the brink. Essentially, NBA owners want (in part) built-in oopsie clauses, so that they can release a player from a bad contract that the very same owner agreed to offer the very same player. NBA players, who now make fifty seven per cent of all league revenue, don’t want to give up their uneven share, despite the fact that the league is losing tons of money and only a few teams are routinely “in the black” at the end of the year.

At the center of all this madness is commissioner David Stern. Complaining that the players account for too much of the revenue, this commissioner has allowed expansion of the league into cities without the ability to draw fans, lure star players, or maintain consistent ownership. He has allowed the NBA to outgrow its means, keeping around franchises like New Orleans (bankrupt), Sacramento (apathetic market), and Charlotte (who cares?). He has allowed the worst owner in pro sports, Donald Sterling, to consistently undercut the financial viability of the Los Angeles Clippers. I could go on and on.

So why should I care about the NBA? Why should I care about the NFL, which just resolved its own offseason madness. I love professional sports. But that doesn’t seem to matter anymore. I have become cynical of the unabashed greed. I can no longer separate the on-field games with the off-field crying contest between millionaires. I just don’t think it’s possible to put the blinders on and enjoy the games anymore. How can I enjoy the games, when the games seem to be last on the minds of the players and owners?