This makes no sense to me. As Simon referenced below, viewership is down bigly over the last 25 years. For MLB, this is a yuuuge issue when collective bargaining is up for grabs in a couple years.
Regarding cultural cache, Dems leaned hard into the NBA as you reference in 2020. Over the past election cycle, I have read ad nauseum about Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, and Harrison Butker and I don’t watch football. There is certainly a terminally online subgroup of hardcore leftists who revel in how little they care for sports, but I think it strains credulity to say Dems abandoned sports. Remember Brittney Griner? Or Caitlin Clark? Or Simone Biles? How about the trans locker room wars? We can argue Dems politicized sports too much or that Dems emphasized identities over raw talent. But I don’t think we can say Dems hold sports in contempt. They fully understand the power sports brings to campaigns and winning elections. There’s a reason we haven’t seen a president throw a first pitch since Obama…they’d look awful and it would embarrass them almost irreparably.
Totally disagree. If anything sports are less relevant than ever because there are simply more options for people. Also sports get woke every election cycle which turns people off
Sorry, but I don’t believe my life has suffered one bit because I never watch any sports. That’s fine if you enjoy it! But it’s not a necessary part of a good life.
Viewership isn't "slightly down among some leagues".
The NFL is down more than 50% since 2002!
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1410497/nfl-number-of-tv-viewers-usa/
I am not sure what statista is or where that is coming from but nfl viewership has been about the same since Obama was elected president (which feels like a relevant timeframe): https://www.sportico.com/business/media/2025/nfl-tv-ratings-season-dip-election-disruption-1234823154/
This makes no sense to me. As Simon referenced below, viewership is down bigly over the last 25 years. For MLB, this is a yuuuge issue when collective bargaining is up for grabs in a couple years.
Regarding cultural cache, Dems leaned hard into the NBA as you reference in 2020. Over the past election cycle, I have read ad nauseum about Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, and Harrison Butker and I don’t watch football. There is certainly a terminally online subgroup of hardcore leftists who revel in how little they care for sports, but I think it strains credulity to say Dems abandoned sports. Remember Brittney Griner? Or Caitlin Clark? Or Simone Biles? How about the trans locker room wars? We can argue Dems politicized sports too much or that Dems emphasized identities over raw talent. But I don’t think we can say Dems hold sports in contempt. They fully understand the power sports brings to campaigns and winning elections. There’s a reason we haven’t seen a president throw a first pitch since Obama…they’d look awful and it would embarrass them almost irreparably.
Totally disagree. If anything sports are less relevant than ever because there are simply more options for people. Also sports get woke every election cycle which turns people off
Sorry, but I don’t believe my life has suffered one bit because I never watch any sports. That’s fine if you enjoy it! But it’s not a necessary part of a good life.
Sounds like something a sportsball obsessed clown would write. Perfect piece for you.
The only sports I watch are boxing, kickboxing and MMA. Ball sports are just goofy to me. Contrived skills.
Good intro, felt like you could develop that last line more.