(Super Bowl question) Why do we spend so much money on kids' games?

[Archae]

Yes, I do cheer and pump my fist in the air when the Packers do well, and will do so when the Milwaukee Brewers quit imitating the Chicago Cubs.

But just look at all the money being spent on the Super Bowl.

Stadium.
Security.
TV rights.
Ads.
Etc...

Essentially, these are kids' games.

So why do so many invest in them, and spend so much on them?

We aren't as starved for entertainment as the Romans were, in fact, we can have our own versions of the Super Bowl now, with video game systems.

[malthaussen]

1. Why do we spend so much money on entertainment in general?

Movies, TV, music... it isn't just sports. More to the point is why we use taxes to subsidize our entertainment.

-- Mal

[former9thward]

17. What would you have us do in our spare time?

Since you don't want people to enjoy themselves.

[malthaussen]

27. Eh? Where did I say that?

I posed a counter-question to the OP and suggested that a more interesting question was why we use taxes to support entertainment. You interpret that as an indictment. You're mistaken.

-- Mal

[former9thward]

29. I have no problem with taxes being used for what you call "entertainment."

Its people having a good time. Just the same as taxes for parks and libraries.

[malthaussen]

32. Did I say it was a problem?

Asking "why" is not an indictment. That's a pet peeve of mine, and I find that many politicians and other authoritarians cannot stand for any question that starts with "why."

I would suggest we spend more subsidizing sports, movies, and music than we do subsidizing parks and libraries, or the Arts, or even public broadcasting. That could mean more people enjoy sports, movies, and music than enjoy parks, libraries, and the Arts; or it could mean that the one group of entertainment has better marketing than the other.

-- Mal

[former9thward]

34. If you did a count of people in Seattle parks and libraries yesterday

And did a count of the people in the stadium and watching on TV you would have the answer to the "Why" question.

[malthaussen]

35. Not really.

A superficial answer, yes: more people enjoy football than the library. But that just leads up to the larger question of why more people enjoy football than the library.

Of course, the answer to that would probably open up more questions. The fun part of asking "why" is that, ultimately, you are reduced by infinite regression to "In the Beginning was the Word."

-- Mal

[GeorgeGist]

41. Consistent ...

weak from start to finish.

[aristocles]

2. Three words: GAMBLING Organized Crime

[Whisp]

3. bread and circuses

and that military thing of us vs. them.

[One_Life_To_Give]

4. Opiate for the masses

Little different from the Colosseum in Rome. Give a good show once in a while to appease the misery of the masses.

[malthaussen]

36. But we're so much more sophisticated than the Romans...

... they gave the bread and the circuses to the masses for free. Our masses have to pay for them. The Romans were amateurs.

-- Mal

[The Straight Story]

5. Because we are not all slaves whose only job in life is to work to serve others

And we have something called free time where people do things that they 'enjoy'.

Since many people have either played football themselves, were a parent of someone who did, a cheerleader, etc it stands to reason that such a sport would be popular well into adulthood. And if an adult is going to play the game for the benefit of other adults they expect to be paid because they are no longer living at home having their mom and dad buy their uniform and lunch.

It is a tool to get to college and/or have a career. And while many don't make it a career many do make it to college because of it - which adds more reason for them to enjoy watching others. Given the sheer number of people involved it is little wonder why we spend so much money on it - folks enjoy it and unlike some things (movies, theater, etc) the people are not acting but being their best to win.

I prefer college football myself Although the super bowl will be cool this year as we have the hawkmen from seattle and the my little ponies from denver.

[tkmorris]

6. They aren't kid games

Sure, we played them as kids but many of the same reasons we enjoyed them as children still apply as adults.

[A HERETIC I AM]

14. George Carlin, I believe in one of his books, said....

(paraphrasing) "If you did away with the NFL, the big stadiums, the huge fan base...all of it, a bunch of guys would still get together and play football."

Same with baseball, hockey and basketball, I'm sure.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

7. i don't think taxes should subsidize them

but sports/games are just a form of entertainment and in some cases something to feel positive about...

sP

[cthulu2016]

8. They are not kids games. Question answered.

[NightWatcher]

9. so we should get rid of sports?

Lots of us enjoy them (demand), so the teams, tv stations, merch....(supply them).

[Throd]

10. Because we enjoy them.

[CFLDem]

11. Is there also something wrong with apple pie and the flag?

[Upton]

12. What do you want us to do for entertainment?

Go highbrow and only attend pretentious crap like opera or ballet? No thanks.

[Throd]

13. Will there be beer?

[Upton]

19. Nope..just whine

ideal for those who don't like sports..

[DemocraticWing]

28. Yeah.

But only non-alcoholic

[ChisolmTrailDem]

38. And travel money? nt

[Springslips]

30. I lovee both

Sports and highbrow. But I take distaste in your stereotyping; sports fans can be just as pretentious as opera patrons. The guy who paints his face, wears his team jersey everywhere, and blabs nothing but sports is just as pretending douche as the stuck nose, eyes closed high brower.

[X_Digger]

15. Fuck if I know..

I think it's obscene to pay grown men and women gobs and gobs of money to dress up in costumes and play kids games.

What do we get out of it? Athletes as 'heroes' who can't read, either because they skated through school, or because they have traumatic brain injuries. Piles of taxpayer dollars pissed away on over-budget sports stadiums and contracts to 'retain' some sports franchise or another. Athletes who wreck their bodies, blow their fortunes and end up in nursing homes at 50 because their brains are like bruised cantaloupes.

What the fuck good does it do?

[Logical]

24. Entertainment that generates revenue.....

Like spending $100 million on a crappy action movie, people want to watch it.

The money is spent on 1000s of things and flows back into the economy.

Supply/demand at work.

[uppityperson]

26. Continues to promote "us vs them" giving people a sense of community without all the

work that goes into developing a real community.

[malthaussen]

33. How do you feel about paying men and women obscene gobs of money...

... to dress up in costumes and pretend to be somebody else, while filming it?

I think it's funny that sports are considered apart from the other entertainment branches on which we spend a lot of money.

-- Mal

[X_Digger]

37. I feel the same way about hollywood.

Haven't been to a movie in >15 years; I can't stand reality TV.

[former9thward]

16. They are not kid's games in any respect.

If you think they are you should be doing something else with your time.

[NM_Birder]

18. Because......

rooting for a group of peasants toiling out in the fields is less than a spectacular entertainment event.

Why do anything that isn't specifically related to the act of survival ? All you need to live is to eat, drink water, and sleep.......

Why do movie stars make gajillions of dollars, merely for playing "dress-up and pretend"


except to say, that the more money you make as a dress-up/make-believe star,.... the more credibility your opinion is given. Think about how stupid THAT is ?

[LittleBlue]

20. Sports at that level aren't games, they're entertainment

I'll explain the difference. When you play with your kids in the back yard, it's a game. When you compete, it's athletics. And when you start playing in front of millions of people for $100m contrasts, it's no different than actors who get paid $20m a movie. That's entertainment.

[NCTraveler]

21. The number of people and organizations employed or supported by the NFL is huge.

Keep spending that money people.

[Arugula Latte]

22. Many people seem to have a need to prop up their sense of importance through sports.

Their team wins -- they are special and better than those lesser losers.

Yes it's stupid but I think that's what it boils down to on some primitive level.

[jmowreader]

23. Tackle football is a game kids shouldn't play anyway. Very high injury risk.

One of my town's HS quarterbacks, in the space of a month, suffered a concussion, broken fibula and broken ankle in two on-field incidents.

Baseball is a kids' game adults make millions playing. Football is an insane adults' game we stupidly allow children to play.

[Logical]

25. 3 other sports are more deadly, gymnastics, water polo, boys softball! nt

[jmowreader]

39. I looked that up...

http://www.momsteam.com/return-play/injury-rate-in-youth-soccer-higher-than-other-contact-sports-study-finds

"Fatalities (in soccer) associated almost exclusively with traumatic contact with soccer goalposts."

Contact with fixed objects is a leading cause of death in a lot of sports, so this makes a lot of sense.

And then there's this:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/110/3/e28.abstract

(This is a study of 7-to-13-year-olds who get injured playing sports.)

"In baseball, 3 percent of all injuries were considered serious; in soccer, 1 percent were considered serious; and in football, 14 percent were considered serious."

"Conclusions. Given the classification of football as a collision sport, the high number of exposures per player, the FITS score, and the percentage of injuries considered serious, youth football should be a priority for injury studies. Health professionals should establish uniform medical coverage policies for football even at this age level."

The thing is, most sports' contact is incidental...but you can't play tackle football without running into other players.

[Logical]

40. Here is the totals, but by percent of players....

http://www.weather.com/health/deadliest-high-school-sports-20130812

[Springslips]

31. My theory is sports works much as stories do.

But they are real, thus ( the good guys don't always win). This truth ramps up the drama and gives more entertainment for the buck. But instead of suspending disbelief as you do in fiction, one has to create importance for the drama to work.