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Stop Calling Them Pro Sports; They’re Marketing Events

The amount of branding is driving me insane — this message and Halloween parody are brought to you by Pepsi Cola.

Mitchell Peterson
6 min readOct 28, 2021
Photo by Joe Yates on Unsplash

Sports are awesome. I can enjoy and appreciate athleticism and watch just about anything — for a limited time. I do not — not even a little — understand the fans — usually men — whose lives revolve around a team and organization they have nothing to do with, doing multiple fantasy leagues and allowing the outcome of whatever game to affect their attitude and day. I don’t get that shit.

I do enjoy sports but don’t have the time nor desire to sit and watch anything from start to finish. I’ll watch some highlights occasionally and will maybe follow a player or two. I like the stories around the players and teams, and there are unbelievable storylines that emerge every year.

Who doesn’t love a great underdog? But, unfortunately, professional sports, in general, have become so commodified that they’re almost impossible for me to enjoy.

The actual play on the field or court is an afterthought to the marketing campaigns and massive banners that are “strategically” placed everywhere but the foreheads of the competitors.

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Mitchell Peterson
Mitchell Peterson

Written by Mitchell Peterson

Freelance writer in his tenth year outside the US. Currently in rural Spain writing the Substack bestseller and soon-to-be book, 18 Uncles.

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