Yesterday I was talking to a sports fan. When I say a sports fan, this person has season tickets to Texas Longhorns football and lives 20 minutes from Oklahoma. He drives down there with his family every weekend to watch the games. This is someone who attends other, various games with his family throughout the year.

He stopped me to ask me if we’re going to have sports this fall. Mainly he asked about the NFL. We talked for a little bit about that and I mentioned baseball. His response was quick and without hesitation:

“Baseball has lost me as a fan.”

He went on to talk about how he loves baseball but what they’ve done the past couple of weeks is sickening. It got me thinking, though. How many people, like this guy, are turned off by the “money” argument that both owners and players are doing right now. We have businesses all over the country that are struggling to remain open right now because of new government regulations when it comes to the coronavirus.

Some businesses have shut down. Others have had to go through massive layoffs and furloughs. Here we are as a country trying to get through this pandemic and sports franchises are arguing over money. Now, don’t get me wrong, I understand the argument from both sides. I get why they’re doing it. I don’t, however, understand how they can be doing it so openly in front of the public.

It makes you wonder if these people remember where their salaries come from. They make their millions of dollars every year because people like myself and my friend will buy tickets and merchandise to support them. If they keep messing around and making more people mad, will people want to go watch them? How are you going to convince someone who just got laid off or had their hours cut to pay $100 to come watch you play a sport? That’s the danger of what we’re facing right now in this country.