The Transition to the Dark Side

A city's sports team has always been something to take pride in. Something that the city uses to tell everyone else, "hey, look at us, we're pretty great!" The fans used to be able to go to the games to support their teams regularly and really feel like the park, or stadium, or field was another home to them. Fathers could take their sons to pass down the love of his favorite team. Fans used to be the foundation on which teams were built. Now, that foundation has changed for the worse. 

Now, it's money, money, and more money. Maybe throw in some political agendas and you have the behind the scenes use of a city's sports team. Owners have their own agendas, and a huge platform to flaunt them on. Owners are private citizens that make money from these teams, which is to be expected--a business is a business and a man has to feed his family. But what gives the owner the right to demand the public's money? The very wealthy owner has so much control over the city that if they don't meet his demands, he threatens to move the team to a different city. He holds the city hostage for money to fund brand new stadiums that cost millions of dollars. But the owners don't pay for it, they just reap the rewards. That money comes from the public's pocket book through taxes. Instead of fixing the railroads or filling potholes in the streets; the city has to fund the building of a stadium that really isn't even necessary.Whatever the city doesn't pay for, the owner pays for through a huge spike in ticket and food prices. It has become so expensive to attend a game. For a family of four to attend a Chicago Blackhawks game, it would cost almost $400 to get tickets off of stubhub. And that is just for the cheap seats. David Roth says in his article, 'Makers and Takers' "the community pays the bills by assenting to tax expenditures and tax breaks for team owners, or by buying tickets and t-shirts and parking spots and comically oversized foam fingers." The fans pay for the teams, but still have to suffer the high ticket prices. 

Fans have little ability to stop the owners exploitation of them and their city. David Roth says again in 'Makers and Takers', "Beyond withholding their dollars and interest, fans have little means of holding team owners accountable for their unwillingness or inability to recognize how much their respective toys mean to so many." Fans feel less and less attached to their teams and, as a majority  no longer watch every game or follow their teams every move. Gone are the days of devoted loyal fans, because gone are the days of devoted loyal owners.