Sport As a Commodity?

Sportswriter, Emma John, points out that games (Association football, American football, Athletics, Baseball, Cricket, Formula One, Golf, Rugby, Tennis etc, etc) were 'invented for leisure, pleasure and recreation'. She bewails the fact that most sport is now viewed by its 'administrators', as a product to be 'sold and marketed incessantly to bolster the bottom line' (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/29/enough-already-sport-needs-to-slow-down-and-rein-in-its-endless-lust-for-growth). John points out that many of the administrators in dominant sports, have been recruited from business and banking. Bonuses are a standard method of recruiting and rewarding people in these sectors. The 'managerial talent', in many sports, appear to be still fixated on getting 'their' bonuses. Their sport/game must always be 'conquering new markets', devising new formats and/or seeking inclusion in the Olympic Games, for them to achieve their rewards. John thinks that much of this activity is actually to the detriment of the participants and/or the spectators. There is, however, an additional problem. As 'Big sport' is always keen to encourage the spread of its particular commodity to every corner of the globe, it is generating enormous (and growing?) quantities of 'greenhouse gases'. If we are to seriously challenge climate change, the excesses of sports need to be reined back.