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Perhaps the classic example in this situation is sports. More precisely, professional sports. From a truly popular hobby accessible to almost everyone, in a little over a century, sport has turned into a multi-billion dollar business, becoming, in fact, a kind of offshoot of show business. Do you want a good example? Please - according to the results of 2022, as IMDb states, global gross box office takings reached $25.9 billion.
At the same time, during the same period, the NFL alone reported a total revenue of approximately $18.6 billion. And that's just one league in one single sport! Of course, you'll be happy to throw the ball with friends or kids in the park for the weekend, but then in the evening you will still sit in front of the TV and turn on the next NFL game. But, you see, it will still be essentially different sports.
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"The commercialization of sports began in the second half of the 20th century in Europe and North America, mainly with the development of television, but the main work was, of course, the internet," says Michael Spivakovsky, a sports journalist and YouTube blogger from Ukraine, to whom Bored Panda reached out for a comment. "It sounds unbelievable, but when advertising appeared on the jerseys of some soccer teams in Europe in the '70s, it was seriously dubbed a 'disgrace' to the sport. Today, advertising space is even sold on the inside of jerseys."
“On the other hand, the gap between ordinary people and professional athletes has now become absolutely incredible. If half a century ago you supported a local team as 'the next door guys', today there is a clear gradation: there are amateur sports, semi-professional, like student sports, and on the top of it there are professional leagues, and it's a completely different level of fitness and financial power."
"Some people like it - after all, what, in fact, is the difference between the Super Bowl and, say, the next Marvel blockbuster? Is it the plot denouement - in sports, unlike cinema, it can be unpredictable. Many are upset that the sport has lost its roots, has lost spiritual connection with the common people it all came from. But a trend is a trend - and no one can reverse it," Michael summarizes.
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In fact, we are seeing a spiral movement. First, some trend or hobby appears among ordinary people. Then it becomes popular, gaining more and more followers. Then big money comes, the trend gets gradually commercialized - and social media only accelerates this process at times more. Business then replaces singles, and soon this social phenomenon becomes another commercial industry. Only to eventually give way to something new in human minds and hearts...
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After all, such is our life, and it has rarely happened that ordinary people, having stood in the way of the colossal business machine, have succeeded in this confrontation. So each of us actually has two paths. The first is to accept it all and try to enjoy even the commercialized version of our hobby. The second - to oppose somehow, and who knows - if we're lucky, then publish a book about the story of our success, earn a lot of money and become famous... damn, it seems that there is only one path after all. Okay, if you know other ways, please let us know in the comments below!
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