Jack Bedrosian is a writer and performer based in Los Angeles. He has an MA in global politics from Loyola University Chicago.
Saudi Arabia’s plan to start its own international basketball league is the latest sign of the game’s drift into a world in which money, held by increasingly anonymous elites, has distanced sport from fans and communities.
A fall in NBA viewership has led pundits to ask whether the problem is that the league is too woke or shoots too many three-pointers. There is little evidence that these factors are to blame, but that hasn’t stopped conservatives from stoking a culture war.
Influencers like Jake Paul have risen to prominence by fighting athletes who want an alternative to exploitative bodies like the UFC. His pro-Trumpism and call for a union to protect the rights of fighters represent the contradictions within combat sports.
The NBA’s one-and-done rule stops players from entering the league straight from high school. This pushes top players into the NCAA, which makes billions off them, and reduces the window in which athletes, whose careers are often cut short, can earn.
Professional fighters are rarely paid for participating in competitions, and the average income of athletes working with promoters like the UFC is only $45,000. Now Jiu Jitsu fighters are pushing back against low pay, giving the industry a wake-up call.