Thoughts while at the Grocery Store this Super Sunday at Lunchtime
While at the grocery store Sunday when church let out I was surrounded by hurried people buying as much crap as they can to shove in their mouths while watching overpaid, overgrown kids smash each other up and a terrible example of “entertainment” as presented by the halftime show. I do enjoy the commercials but feel they are quickly becoming an archaic form of customer communication and the ridiculous amounts of money spent to place them strategically during this event is outrageous.
If you knew me 5 or 10 years ago, you would know that I moderately followed the football season partially to keep up with social chit-chat and partially because it still held my interest. It seems, though, experiences in my 20s led me to understand the nature of these sports empires and slowly I not only lost interest, but became acutely aware of the impact these displays of power and money were having on our culture.
I’m not against game, or skill, or craft…but the more I learn about sports as a business the less I like them. The business end of things makes me cringe and people who cry foul for corporations generally give these corporation giants a pass. This makes no sense to me as they are doing all the same bad big business things as the other corporations that are so bad we must boycott them and make a big statement and hooha about. Their boycotts of these other businesses seem less sincere to me with this concession of sports teams.
Why am I such a sourpuss about the sports industry?
A few reasons.
One very expensive reason is their use of local taxpayer money to build their stadiums. How many stadiums sit derelict in how many cities across the country? These are not small city projects, these are multi-million (sometimes billion?) dollar projects that benefit few people…mostly the sports franchise and the city, not the people.
Another reason I dislike the sports industry is their overly aggressive stance on trademarking. I don’t think I’m even allowed to mention the “big game” by it’s official name without some sort of special permission.
Yet another reason is their treatment of the college players. The college sports industry has really been raking in the dough, somehow without ever paying any of the people actually doing the work or sacrificing their pro-careers when their knee pops while pushing themselves through their college years. I mean the networks, the newscasters, the coaches and the colleges all benefit from these students’ athleticism, without paying them a dime. They also can’t take money for product advertising, so while they may be a star player…they could also be struggling to pay tuition, eat or help out their families.
All these things are supported by fans who are, a lot of times, working or lower class and spend their hard earned dollars on merchandise, tickets, pay per view, cable or satellite TV or other various memorabilia.
Oh, and get this. The NFL is a non-profit organization. That’s right folks, they are a 501(c)6 non-profit organization which is as defined by our government under their business league section:
Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides for the exemption of business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards, boards of trade and professional football leagues, which are not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.
Notice it says professional football leagues. So…what about the other sports leagues?
But if the football industry operated within a genuine market instead of using government funds to support itself, cities to build it’s stadiums, not paying taxes, using up college athletes to fuel the fire of the sport, and creating protectionisms to make sure no one taints their super perfect special over hyped bullshit I think we would have a more competitive and honest game with real community support and connection.
I’m not an expert on this industry but from my point of view, the corporations running the sports industry are worse than Walmart, Starbucks or any of the usual giants of their own industries that my oh so cool and knowledgeable friends despise and boycott with vehemence. It’s a contradiction I don’t understand and it only seems to be more obvious as I get older. I just hope they someday get over this affair with sports and see it for the scandalous filled industry that it is.
These were my thoughts while I fought off the pre-game/post-church crowd as we clashed at the supermarket this morning so they could buy, buy, buy stuff for the big game and drag their screaming kids along with them to make my Sunday morning shopping trip a living hell.
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