By VIVIAN KOPKA

I don’t watch sports too often. I keep up with the Bulls. I’ll watch when the Bears play the Packers. I watched the 2016 Cubs world series. I dabble. I’ll have a beer and a hot dog at a baseball game. 

But, the opportunities to watch the game are dwindling. Subscriptions, streaming services – all of which are catering to different sports and different networks – are killing American sports. The message couldn’t be clearer: If you don’t have the means, you don’t deserve to watch the sport live. 

Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, spoke in an interview on Wednesday, Sept. 10 regarding the rising costs to watch NBA games: “There’s a huge amount of our content that people essentially consume for free. This is very much a highlights-based sport, so Instagram, TikTok, Twitter [now X]… YouTube, another example that is advertising based that consumers can consume.”

That sounds like a big “fuck you” to me. If you don’t have money, just wait until people compile reels. Just keep refreshing X. Is that really how you want to sound, Adam? 

Since the beginning of the NBA, one of the goals was the money. But at what point do profits get in the way of the game?

That point has come and gone. We praise Demar Derozen for growing up poor in Compton and making it to the NBA. We love the “rags to riches” narratives. But how are poor people going to strive for greatness without idols to look up to? 

While I greatly focused on the NBA and Chicago in this article, the pattern across U.S. sports stays the same. Pickleball courts are replacing basketball courts in neighborhoods of economic growth. The Cubs were the team of the working class until the gentrification of Wrigleyville and new management decided to capitalize on ticket prices. Cable costs an arm and a leg, and doesn’t even guarantee your favorite sports. 

Free time is becoming more and more of a privilege in a society that praises never-ending economic growth. Owners, managers – whatever you call them – of sports organizations and teams don’t care about you. The entertainment industry wants you to feel like enjoying things costs a lot because you don’t really deserve to be entertained unless you have money. 

The Roman Empire frequently held free shows at the colosseum, with gladiators battling exotic animals from far away. This was meant to keep the people fed and complacent. Apparently, the people with the power have forgotten that we need bread and a show to stay silent. Let’s be angry. Poor people deserve free time and entertainment.

Featured image: CNN