Do people know why polo is a "rich man's sport"? Because only rich people watch it. The NFL didn't start like polo. The NFL started like baseball. What do I mean by that?
The typical dad could buy tickets for his two young sons and take them to the game. He could buy them hot dogs and a coke. The youth would see their peers, other sons, in the stands, with their dads, and understand that this was more than football. This was memory building culture that cemented family interaction as a part of fandom. Fandom ritually passed from one generation to the next. When I hear people lament about the destruction of family, rarely do I hear them broach the topic of being priced out of such family reinforcing venues. What I do see is a growing class of people that are increasingly angry, but they can't put their finger on exactly why. Maybe it is because they can't afford to do with their children, what their own father did with them?
This has bled down to all levels of sport. To all of you that relive childhood memories of "pickup" games at the local park, try to understand that the parks are empty now. Why? Because organized youth sports have become the new vehicle for childhood play. Those "pickup" games have evolved into a parental entry fee. Leagues have to be created, uniforms have to be purchased, referees have to be hired and it doesn't stop with the initial purchase. Travel costs have to be incurred. Chaperons are required. The kids didn't invent this environment. The obsessed parents did. Otherwise, the kids would be at the park playing pickup games. In summary, youth sports are evolving into a "rich mans" sport. Like polo. Do you know why polo is a "rich man's sport" Because only rich people watch it.
A growing class of people are becoming disfranchised with organized sport because it is becoming increasingly inaccessible with each generation due to cost. Of course, organized sport will never die. There will always be a market for it. On the other hand, you rarely hear a couple of common laborers talking about the chances of the New Zealand racing sailboat winning the America's Cup.
People must still have their affordable entertainment venues. Where can they find them? Well, one place they can find them is on their computers and on their phones. Don't laugh at computer games. Did you know that the band Aerosmith made more money from the video game titled "Rock Band" than they did from all of their album sales combined? If you want to point your finger at a contributor to the destruction of family bonding, perhaps we can start with the concept of affordable entertainment. No, this isn't the fault of electronic gaming itself. It is the fact that electronic gaming has replaced fandom as affordable entertainment. That.....is the issue. Not the games themselves. The affordability. The disconnect comes from dad being clueless and disinterested about this new form of electronic entertainment and relegates it to something just for kids. So, dad watches the football game at the stadium with his adult friends, because the tickets are too prohibitively expensive to take his kids. Meanwhile his kid is at home playing the latest popular, affordable computer game that his dad has never even heard about.
Wherever popular, affordable entertainment finds a home, the money grubbers are soon on their way to exploit it and inevitably destroy it. Computer game lovers know what I'm talking about. Micro transactions have become the new norm in the gaming world. Like fandom for organized sports, it won't be long until this new form of entertainment will price itself out of business as well. Then another affordable form of entertainment will rise, capturing the interest of another generation, until the money grubbers exploit that entertainment venue into unaffordability as well.
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