Surrender

I know that I said that this forum would be a sports oriented little soapbox. No need to get into politics, crime, world affairs or health issues, just good old fashioned simple sports stuff. I’m still staying on point here but recent events have made it difficult to not stray a bit. It’s almost impossible to ignore because as always, it’s all about the money.

I’m not naïve!! I have seen the changes, I pay for the tickets, and I consume concessions and buy the merchandise at times. We all read and hear about the contracts each and every day in sports. Tennis, car racing and skiing can now join the party. We pay Olympic athletes now along with Marathoners and college players, areas that used to be sacred ground for amateurs. Christian Ronaldo, who was arguably the best soccer player of our generation recently signed a contract with the Saudis (more on this in a bit) for $75 million a season even though he couldn’t start for his World Cup team. After settling most of his lawsuits for accusations of sexual abuse; Deshaun Watson still signed for a contract paying his $250 million over the next 5 years. These are only a couple of examples of the money showered upon sports figures by owners and investors that can because they want to make more. Having said all that, I wanted to comment on 2 of the more recent displays of this disgusting behavior.

A couple of weeks ago, the NFL owners (aka the Billionaires club) met for their annual meeting. It was there that they decided for the sake of their “fans”; they would now allow flexing of their Thursday games in an attempt to make sure that the most competitive ones would be on TV for the “fans”. Never mind that some players now will need to possibly play the Sunday/Thursday combo twice in a season, just asking for injuries. Never mind the fans who are buying tickets to a Sunday or a Thursday game that might be changed at the last minute. It’s about the “fans”… what a crock of shit, it’s about the TV revenue from sponsors etc., with no thoughts about the game day fans, their money is a pittance compared to the big picture. Also, let’s now move a few games to subscription based products like Peacock, Prime and I’m sure at some point Apple will get in the mix. This from the league that pretends to care about the safety and wellbeing of the players. Let’s use padded helmets in August for practice because that should offset the 2 games in 4 days during the regular season; as Pink Floyd once sang; “money, money, money…”

The other example is this week’s news in the PGA golf world; another billion dollar industry that has been feuding for 2 years now with the sports washing Saudi backed LIV tour. I don’t have the time or energy here to get into all the details about this despicable “public investment fund” created by these morally corrupt people. All I know is that the feud is now evidently over. Instead of continuing to fight the good fight, let’s just make up and split the pot!!

Now I harbor no ill will towards anyone who tries to earn as much as they can in any walk of life. I suppose it was naïve of me years ago, to think that sports would be separate from the corporate world, it unfortunately isn’t. What will I do about this?? Well I’m heading to Fenway for a Sox game later this month, prepping for the Pats opener in Sept, paying my Bruins ticket bill and of course next week will be glued to the TV to watch the US Open. From all of us in corporate America we thank you Kevin Fogg for your ongoing support.