I know I'm not blowing anyone's minds when I say sports fans often don't get what they want, and their interests are frequently sacrificed. But two things I see people complaining about this news cycle makes it worth remembering (and in my case, repeating) why decisions are made the way the are made (the answer, of course, is money, but I will get into details).
Over on X, I see Seahawks and 49ers fans bitterly complaining that their very-important-game-with-playoff-implications is scheduled for Saturday night, while another very-important-game-with-playoff-implications, Steelers vs. Ravens, gets the prized Sunday night slot.
So why did NBC choose Steelers/Ravens, when 49ers/Seahawks feature two significantly better teams? It's because Steelers/Ravens, thanks to their history, are more of a grab for casual fans who don't really follow football super closely.
And that, my friends, is where the money is at. There are soooooo many more casuals than there are of us. It doesn't matter what sport you're talking about.
So I would say that perhaps in a just world, Seahawks/49ers "deserves" the Sunday night slot, but if you dig a little deeper, that doesn't make sense, either.
There's nothing inherently advantageous about appearing on Sunday Night Football, at least anything non-negligible.
I don't believe, for example, the presumably-more-expensive ad buys for SNF vs. a Saturday Night game makes its way to the team enough to significantly improve it in future seasons, particularly since the NFL operates with both a salary cap and a salary floor.
And before anyone comes at me with any version of, "Ack-shually, it IS greatly advantageous to play of SNF because of X and Y and Z that you aren't considering," ask yourself this: does that advantage outweigh the advantage the Niners and Seahawks get for playing on Saturday? Namely, a full extra day to prepare for the playoffs?
Because that one does seem pretty damn significant to me. It goes to show that the 49er and Seahawk fans bellyaching about not being on SNF are doing so only because of SNF's status. It's pretty stupid.
I'm a little bit more sympathetic to European soccer fans, who are being priced out — way out — of attending the World Cup in the U.S. (as well as Mexico and Canada) in 2026. A lot of these dudes have in fact been able to afford World Cups past, but not the 2026 edition.
The problem is, the USA has a ton of idle rich who don't know much about soccer and surely are not passionate fans, but they will still attend World Cup matches as a thing to do, a status thing, and pay four or five figures for the privilege.
Again, that kind of sucks, but a lot of these fans seem surprised that we live in a capitalist world, and FIFA and the other stakeholders are not non-profits. Ergo, they will charge as much as people are willing to pay.
Capitalism was not invented just in time for the 2026 World Cup. Merchants have been trying to figure and charge the very most they can before people start rejecting the product since, I don't know, ever?
The solutions soccer fans of more humble means have suggested — namely setting aside a certain amount of low-cost tickets for superfans — seems like a nightmare to implement at best and downright unworkable at worst. How the hell do we determine who the "real" fans are? Some people have suggested going by if they are official "members" of their club's official fan club.
But that's not fair, either, because while English and I assume many other European countries have such official fan clubs, most of the rest of the world does not. In America, for instance, sports fandom is informal, not sanctioned. So what about fans of those countries? An essay contest, perhaps?
I'm not a big fan of capitalism, but I recognize that the world we live in is capitalist, and it annoys me to know that not a few of these complaining fans are normally very pro-free market. They love it until it adversely affects them.
Then there are the apolitical complainers, who have never really given any thoughts about the disadvantages and drawbacks of capitalism until this. And that's pretty clueless and shameful, frankly. Capitalism causes suffering on fronts many orders of magnitude more important than frickin' sports. Go volunteer at a food bank in a town where the entire industry maintaining the town packed up and left, for example. Now that you've had this awakening, start somewhere important.
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