4/6 Chuck Klosterman (NCAA Hoops)
22 ck: the NCAA’s token response to the absurdity of not paying men’s football and basketball players is that they’re student-athletes. however, it would be reasonable for them to say “look, if you want funding for all of your collegiate sports, men’s and women’s (title IX), from mainstream to obscure, the money has to come from somewhere.” right now the NCAA acts like they’re offended when people say that the system is crazy, but that statement would be publicly understandable
46 what really is an ideal attendance size for a basketball game? we see so many empty arenas around the NBA. the minnesota twins’ new stadium heeds that advice, sporting a lower than average capacity
5630 ck: the achilles heel in every sports league is it’s insistance to cater to and woo a market that isn’t interested in the game at all. over-extension, over-expansion, and dilution of the product results. “we need to appeal to a wider audience” - the nba in particular is too concerned with that
1:08 the nba has desirable problems, at least compared to where the league was in the late 70’s early 80’s (couldn’t get prime time tv for their finals). franchises were bought for around $10M at that time.
