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Is Traditional Sport In Trouble?

Grays_1890

Grays_1890

Colin Calderwood
Got to thinking.

We have just seen a pretty standard Rugby World Cup that they feel might be the last of its kind with global participation at an all time low, twinned with the UK Rugby scene with clubs going out of business. We are in the midst of a Cricket World Cup in a time where there is so many franchises and an obvious knock on effect, talk of 50 over cricket being scrapped forever. We last night and have recently seen boxing be "disrupted" by social media influence and huge money cross overs from Saudi. Footballs been wrestling with new commercial ideas with the EPL and obvious Saudi is again a massive disruptor. NFL and MLB is on tour with oversea matches and talk of a global expansion. Golf has its issues with LIV and the PGA.

So as per the title, with so much going on in each sport thats either disrupting OR weakening the sport, are we at a near end game in terms of how the sports will look OR is this just a transition into a new phase for them?

I personally think we are moving away from a structured and traditional league format in most and a more exhibition for the highest bidder (eventually) format where teams/people participate in high commercial value events. I'm talking different timescales in each sport but Boxing is nearly there already and Golf is not far behind.
 
50 over cricket is barely 'traditional' (last 40 years or so out of 130 of test cricket) and was always at risk once T20 cash cow came along. Its demise may give slightly more space to test matches but T20 is the main upfront future.

The rest, I reckon, it really is about a change to who makes the money rather than anything else. May well be the beginning of the end of international football and some domestic stuff but seems a bigger issue in my opinion than it is because it is coming from those 'nasty' Saudis with their sports-washing oil money upsetting the established vested interests rather than criminal Russian oligarchs laundering their dirty funds or Hedge funder asset stripping yanks.

Golf I think will ride out the LIV stuff and Saudi will eventually bankroll and run the main tours instead with not a lot of visible change beyond perhaps some franchise style comps every now and then but I think Golf is safest as it is at heart an individual sport with no geographic identity, like tennis, that can be played in teams, rather than a team sport that can be so easily franchised and moved away from its original base.

Cycling is being bought out by Saudis apparently.

Boxing has always been a brick show with purse being corrupt and bouts managed on money not merit - no real change there except in the narrative

Rugby has a problem with head injuries and may be in peril from the future financial hit there but its biggest problem is that Tier 1 countries have refused to support and develop tier 2 and 3 teams so have lost future markets.

Everything changes, but nothing changes really.
 
Baleforce said:
Ok, are they actually changing more drastically than they have in the past, or is it perception based on what the format was when “we” first experienced it?
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I don't known that's why I'm asking haha.

From my perspective there isn't one I can say is at the peak of its powers TBH, most seem weak and having their issues. Football is skint and internationally its the weakest I've ever known (as an example).

Crickets having its biggest identity crisis I've ever known and is in major flux

Maybe as you say it's just a natural transition
 
Grays_1890 said:
I don't known that's why I'm asking haha.

From my perspective there isn't one I can say is at the peak of its powers TBH, most seem weak and having their issues. Football is skint and internationally its the weakest I've ever known (as an example).

Crickets having its biggest identity crisis I've ever known and is in major flux

Maybe as you say it's just a natural transition
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I do think it’s always changed, I’ve followed a few sports religiously at various times, cycling, NFL, darts, they have all had major changes in how the tentpole competitions have been contested.

Football too, the change in the UK with the PL, the changes in the CL, the other continental competitions, the crazy formats used in the Euro’s at various points, the WC.

We are in the midst of various global crises too, it’s logical they have had an effect.
 
K.D.D.D.D.Soc said:
TV has changed sport, 50 years ago little live sport on TV, now it's on everyday, massive market for it, and viewers want to see "the best" rather than get off their arses and see local events, it's not sport it's a product which helps companies sell to a worldwide market.
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Yeh I think maybe the way sports consumed is driving the changes and challenges now.

That's why I see sports almost pimping out to the hugest bidders because there will be a time when TV money dwindles for other mediums and teams/sports need to look for cash. Unfortunately I think that means games abroad to the highest bidders.

Sticking to football there will 100% be games abroad to the highest bidders to fill the coffers
 
Grays_1890 said:
Yeh I think maybe the way sports consumed is driving the changes and challenges now.

That's why I see sports almost pimping out to the hugest bidders because there will be a time when TV money dwindles for other mediums and teams/sports need to look for cash. Unfortunately I think that means games abroad to the highest bidders.

Sticking to football there will 100% be games abroad to the highest bidders to fill the coffers
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that’s not necessarily a bad thing, the NFL international series games have worked very well
 
K.D.D.D.D.Soc said:
TV has changed sport, 50 years ago little live sport on TV, now it's on everyday, massive market for it, and viewers want to see "the best" rather than get off their arses and see local events, it's not sport it's a product which helps companies sell to a worldwide market.
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I don't know how to use the like button.
 
Baleforce said:
that’s not necessarily a bad thing, the NFL international series games have worked very well
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I don't know enough about it to judge fully, it certain works from a market event here in the UK. I'm sure there are reservations on the other side of the Atlantic
 
Grays_1890 said:
I don't know enough about it to judge fully, it certain works from a market event here in the UK. I'm sure there are reservations on the other side of the Atlantic
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maybe, they have all leaned into it though, every team has been over at least once

it's popular with armchair fans in the US too as it adds another game slot on certain weekends, taking it to 12 hours of live coverage
 
K.D.D.D.D.Soc said:
TV has changed sport, 50 years ago little live sport on TV, now it's on everyday, massive market for it, and viewers want to see "the best" rather than get off their arses and see local events, it's not sport it's a product which helps companies sell to a worldwide market.
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100% this I follow the shute shield it's a Sydney based rugby comp. It's full of community based teams with a real connection between clubs & fans always decent crowds Win or lose everybody has a great time. Then you go to the next level which is super rugby & it's the complete opposite large stadiums which are half empty & absolutely no connection with the fans. You here all the time administrations saying. We've got to connect with the grass roots but I doubt any of them have been to a Saturday or Sunday afternoon game
 
I’d say that technology and the growth of media and gaming is having an impact
The fact that kids are happy watching someone play games online rather than okay it themselves says a lot to me as to how it’s evolving
And I know it’s no different to us watching a football game but we watch elite sports men because we’re a tribe and it’s live
I can’t we that being the same within online gaming
 
Nothing will stay the same. Saudi are disrupting lots of things for a soft power grab which probably won’t work in the medium term.

Cricket has evolved around four and five day games and the county game is due and needs and I reckon will have a renaissance. One day stuff probably will be shelved and I will not miss it. Its future lies in the hands of administrators in India.

Rugby union is doomed and will be supplanted by league which has a longer professional history in which to stabilise but has nowhere near the same level of spectacle.

Football may factionalise but in the British isles it will always carry on. International and continental stuff is ripe for massive disruption. For example, English clubs could just walk out of the Champions league and set up an alternative suite of mid week fixtures to suit itself.

Golf is very vulnerable to people turning off the tv as they lose interest in the characters involved.
 
Went off on one a bit.

Too many sports clamouring for a limited amount of people's time and money.
I've only ever followed football and golf.
Outside of Var the actual game of football hasn't changed much. The promotion of it has went absolutely off the scale, but if you tune that out then everything else is fine.
Golf is on a slippy slope IMHO, since the 80s it's been slowly trying to attract younger players/viewers, it's not generally a young persons game.
They are heading for three big issues across pro and club levels.
Equipment needs reigned in. The ball goes to far.
Boom and bust cycle. I've been a club golfer for almost forty years, this is the third boom. Pre covid my current club was desperate for members, now it's almost impossible to get a game. In two years it will be struggling again. Rather than try and build a foundation they go for the quick buck and transient players.
Tv coverage is horrendous, much like cricket the r&a have sold their soul to the devil that is sky TV. If liv had adopted a normal golf format I would have supported it if only to see sky get a roasting. But actually they are worse, golf and razzmatazz don't go together.

Not only in sport but in all commercial spheres now it's all about growing your brand, stuff your loyal customers, get the new money in. Problem is the new money moves to the next trend and you're left with disgruntled "legacy" customers.
The amount of YouTube videos I turn off after 10 seconds because music is not aimed at my demographic, even though the product/content is, is really quite something.
 
Late capitalism being late capitalism. Squeeze every inch of profit out of everything whilst strangling your pipelines.

A lot of this fits into the Resource Curse theory. I.e. how countries with lots of resources like oil often descend into failed states, often doing much worse than neighbours without the resources.

Sports like rugby and cricket will survive and thrive, but they won't be able to pay football salaries, which is the trap they've fallen into over the last 20 years.

I think we're kind of at the pubs only serving Carling and Carlsberg late-90s moment, when the big corporations had bought up and eliminated all the competition. And we're hopefully ripe for the more purist bottom-up real ale boom that followed that.

Sensible salaries and reduced officiating/technology are hopefully the future.
 
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