41–50 of 290 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You know what else is boring? Comments of the form "I don't understand something, and my ignorance should be compelling"
I post comments like that to be educated. Some have already offered explanations, so I'm happy to get your downvote if it means learning something.
When they want to improve their stadium, they issue stock and sell more season tickets. This works because Packers stock cannot be sold or traded after purchase, and a season ticket is, for many working class Wisconsin families, an heirloom. A friend who's a Wisconsin native was put on the waiting list for season tickets at birth, and is in his parents' will to inherit his mother's ticket. His mom is probably going to die before he breaks 10,000th on the list, so that position will go to his kids. It's insane like that.
But it means that the taxpayers of Wisconsin, including those of us who, like myself, could really care less about football, don't have to foot the bill for maintenance and improvements to the Packers' stadium. But again, the Packers have a uniquely fanatical fan base, were created with provisions to keep them in Green Bay forever, and are owned by the fans.
Between the scam of municipalities losing so much $$ on stadiums, how the stadiums cause urban blight sitting empty most of the time then causing major traffic headaches the other times, and the CTE injury rate, I can't fathom how football still exists today as a popular sport. Seems like the whole thing is a house of cards that needs to collapse.
I don't understand why it exists as a popular sport anyways, it's 5 seconds of action followed by 30 seconds of two guys talking about it. The average football game has 11 minutes of action[1]. Everything but the last ~8 minutes of the 4th quarter is boring. Yet Americans love it. I don't get it. [1] http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240527487042812045750028...
I also never understood the appeal of professional football games, with no band playing there at all. It feels like the "spectacle" type of gladiatorial games--the re-enactments of the Battle of Wherever, with condemned criminals portraying the Foovians on one side, and slaves portraying the Barrites on the other. But instead of getting killed outright, the participants just get a very mild case of severe brain damage. And instead of non-stop action, they stand around planning their next stratagem, as though it were not essentially "push the other guy away, so our guy can run past him".
It would be a fascinating experiment if more teams did this, but I can't imagine an owner giving up control like that.
Between the scam of municipalities losing so much $$ on stadiums, how the stadiums cause urban blight sitting empty most of the time then causing major traffic headaches the other times, and the CTE injury rate, I can't fathom how football still exists today as a popular sport. Seems like the whole thing is a house of cards that needs to collapse.
I don't understand why it exists as a popular sport anyways, it's 5 seconds of action followed by 30 seconds of two guys talking about it. The average football game has 11 minutes of action[1]. Everything but the last ~8 minutes of the 4th quarter is boring. Yet Americans love it. I don't get it. [1] http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240527487042812045750028...
Football is typically held up as the quintessential American sport in many regions of the country. Those who don't proclaim their interest or love for it do so at the risk of being seen as outsiders and potentially treated as outcasts.
This starts at a very early age for many Americans due to the close ties between the education systems and football programs. Starting while they're children, those who are capable of playing are often expected to play, and those who aren't capable are expected to participate as fans. This continues through to high school, college, and to the NFL.
Even if the fans don't particularly like the game itself, they often like the social aspect of it, or just pretend to like to to avoid being stigmatized.
Association football (soccer) and cricket play a similar role in other countries. They can be seen as a form of religion, in some sense.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's a lot of strategy between plays. Because the action isn't continuous it has a different flavor from a continuously played game like the other football. It's sort of a hybrid between a real-time game and a turn-based game, which is cool. I think it would be much more interesting if there were more time on the field, but i'm sure the NFL and their advertising partners love all that time that can be filled up wi…
That doesn't explain the popularity, strategy is invisible to the viewer. Chess is not a popular spectator sport.
That doesn't explain why it's more popular than, say, basketball, though...
I am from Europe and this looks almost surreal for me. It is unheard of here that team simply packs players and go to other city. Sport culture and sport business so different in USA.
No, that's not why. Cities shouldn't do it because sports are not a public concern.
And yet cities and states are often in the business of luring large employers to their area, and tax advantage is almost always the bait. Everybody complains about sweetheart deals that so often go along with the seduction of an employer into their area, but almost nobody complains about the jobs. Perhaps in San Francisco the situation is reversed, but almost anywhere else is happy to accept your runoff, even if prof…
Probably because, in most cases, the amount that those jobs cost has not been worth it.
The Green Bay packers have an interesting approach to this problem, although it requires a fanatical fan base and special ownership provisions, and the fact that the team can't leave Green Bay (without a vote by the shareholders, who are all fans, which will never, ever, happen). When they want to improve their stadium, they issue stock and sell more season tickets. This works because Packers stock cannot be sold or…
Doesn't the German football team system work like this too? I think it at least does for Bayern.
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Unlikely. There is competition from other geographic areas. If a team can simply play one venue against another they do have the upper hand unfortunately.
Do any cities own their own teams? I was thinking about this the other day, and as someone who doesn't really follow sports I think I'd actually be more supportive of things like stadium building if the city were involved more heavily —namely, if the city owned the team(s), or at least a controlling share. I'd also be way more likely to care about and cheer for "our" team if they couldn't just pull up stakes and move…
When the (first) Cleveland Browns moved, the city negotiated that they had to use a different name. They became the Baltimore Ravens, and Cleveland was able to call the new franchise the Browns.