United States native poster here again. Does anyone else feel like the major North American sports leagues in particular have become increasingly stale lately, or is that just me? The NBA’s struggles to retain viewers have been documented to the moon and back at this point, but aside from our country’s one and a half month phase a while back where all of America decided we were going to become hockey fans out of nowhere only to get hilariously humbled by Canada’s fans but that’s beside the point, I don’t think any of the other big leagues here have evolved or innovated that much either. The NFL and to an extent the MLB have had some parity issues over the past decade or two, and the NHL’s Atlantic Division seems to have decided they want to commit war crimes on the entire league during the 2020s specifically. Never thought I’d say this out loud, but I think the post-Warriors-dynasty NBA might actually be the most balanced out of those four right now in terms of parity between teams.
Smaller leagues, college athletics depending on the sport, and stuff like Major League Soccer have helped the sports landscape in our country somewhat, I would argue, and I also want to give a shout-out to the recent renaissance of women’s basketball in particular thanks to the insane levels of talent and innovation coming out of that sport specifically over the past few years. My fellow Americans can bash on the WNBA all they want, but I’m very slowly starting to realize that I might actually enjoy watching them more than the “real NBA” next season, and I also don’t think I’ll be nearly as interested in the NFL, NHL, and MLB as I tried to be during 2024-25 even though I do want to respect the talent that many baseball players inherently have while the season is current. I just feel like almost all of these leagues and all of these teams are suffering from a lot of the same problems- the rise of sports betting, the lack of innovation and new strategies, and these products starting to feel incredibly same-y to watch overall just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and cycling back to where this post began, I have to know- is it just me that feels that way? And are international sports any better of a product to enjoy right now? Because I would love to know if I’m missing out on absolute cinema.
