Fans losing interest in professional sports

America is a country that loves its sports. Sadly, this love has been declining in recent years. This decline has been caused by multiple reasons. Personally, my love for these games is virtually gone, especially at the professional level, and here’s why.

 

Loyalty has left sports

In the good ol’ days, players stayed in the city that they were drafted into. Yes, there are exceptions if the team or fans treat them unfairly, but players should stay put. There was no such thing as ring chasing 20 years ago, and now it happens during every free agency period. I’d love to see superstars stay put for their careers because it helps fans create bonds with the player. 

 

Games can get heated

Spectators and players often go through sudden mood changes during a game, and these can sometimes lead to fights. What are they fighting over? Simply a game. The deadliest soccer match in history resulted in 328 people dead. Hockey players are often seen getting into fights, and verbal disputes happen all the time, at any level of sport. And why does it seem that the only time it is acceptable to curse at the television is when it is about sports? Personally, I absolutely love watching teams that have good sportsmanship, but those teams are hard to come by.  Sportsmanship has declined way too much in professional sports.

 

Sitting on the couch isn’t good for you

Sitting down on the couch every Sunday isn’t helping anything get done. The average American spends over five hours a day watching television. Plus, most people consume gobs of junk food during this time. Watching your team play doesn’t mean you can eat a bowl of pizza rolls in five minutes. This habit is unhealthy and it is simply just helping to increase America’s obesity problem. Not to mention if your team happens to lose, how are you going to feel afterwards. Say that you just spent two hours of your life watching your team get pummeled by your rival. The odds are that you are going to be in a sour mood for the rest of the day. Nobody around you wants to see you in a terrible mood over something that you have no control over. Alternatively, you can help out your family by doing your chores for the day, or playing a game with your family.

 

It’s all about the money and fame

Every sport has been caught up in a scandal at one point. In figure skating, when Tanya Harding had someone attack Nancy Kerrigan. In baseball, when Pete Rose got banished from the MLB for his gambling.  You would think that professional athletes would be fine with their immense fame and huge pay checks. These scandals have really tarnished professional sports.

 

Where is the effort?

People used to love the grit and passion with which players played. If you watch an NBA game nowadays, you’ll only see a fraction of players putting in effort on defense. All the players go for is the glory offense and in return, forget to play defense. Once you come by a player that plays both offense and defense, it is very fun to watch, but they are hard to come by. Most players just go through the motions, and many players are heavily criticized by it. Why are they getting paid millions a year to give a haphazard effort?

 

As a frustrated sports fan, I believe that professional sports are going down the drain. Yes, there will always be fans that would die for their teams and pay hundreds of dollars for tickets to the game; there will always be people willing to watch games all weekend while binge eating potato chips; and of course, there will always be athletes willing to make millions from professional sports. However  professional sports are losing fans like myself. It is safe to say that I’m going to stick to college sports for the time being. At the college level, student-athletes play hard for their team and don’t even get paid to do it. Where on the next level, players are getting paid millions and couldn’t care less. Hopefully, professional leagues get their act around and change their ways, but as of now, professional sports are not fun to watch.