Great piece, Mark👍🏼 I do grow weary of organized sport (be it major professional leagues or D-1) treating average fans like an open wallet, under a thinly veiled disguise of a “something never seen before” product; or a “premium experience”…the value of which is never even close to being there, as purportedly promised…yet the organizations/institutions continue to generate record revenues above and beyond insane television/streaming agreements …until he average fan is either “priced-out” or relegated to the family’s entire discretionary income (and beyond) going toward season tickets…
That quote from the AD, about building something like never seen before, is another data point toward confirming that the salesy sayings of a certain former president have rubbed off on the populace.
What next, no players have to be students? College education not required? Do you just fire a kid so you can hire a new one? I've not been a fan of the open portal or NIL thus far. Maybe they'll get to a point where this works for college students to get a quality education that lasts beyond their playing days, and we have some student athletes we can build pride around for more than a season. But it won't serve athletics or universities much to keep kids eligible for a semester at a time and drop kick them or have them leave for perceived greener pastures.
Seems to me that if the average fan perceives themselves as they paymaster for individual players, it only increases the likelihood that at some point they will feel entitled to demand the "firing" of those players they perceive as "unperforming."
Great piece, Mark👍🏼 I do grow weary of organized sport (be it major professional leagues or D-1) treating average fans like an open wallet, under a thinly veiled disguise of a “something never seen before” product; or a “premium experience”…the value of which is never even close to being there, as purportedly promised…yet the organizations/institutions continue to generate record revenues above and beyond insane television/streaming agreements …until he average fan is either “priced-out” or relegated to the family’s entire discretionary income (and beyond) going toward season tickets…
That quote from the AD, about building something like never seen before, is another data point toward confirming that the salesy sayings of a certain former president have rubbed off on the populace.
What next, no players have to be students? College education not required? Do you just fire a kid so you can hire a new one? I've not been a fan of the open portal or NIL thus far. Maybe they'll get to a point where this works for college students to get a quality education that lasts beyond their playing days, and we have some student athletes we can build pride around for more than a season. But it won't serve athletics or universities much to keep kids eligible for a semester at a time and drop kick them or have them leave for perceived greener pastures.
Seems to me that if the average fan perceives themselves as they paymaster for individual players, it only increases the likelihood that at some point they will feel entitled to demand the "firing" of those players they perceive as "unperforming."