• panda_abyss@lemmy.ca
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      9 days ago

      I think that’s unfair.

      Americans are great at sports, it’s the only thing they’re happy to fund.

      • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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        9 days ago

        We don’t fund sports for shit. The only thing we fund is the military. We fund the Olympic team because that’s just PR and marketing, but outside of that,you’re on your own.

        • anyhow2503@lemmy.world
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          9 days ago

          The US spends a shit-ton of money on sports… as long as it’s basketball, baseball, football or soccer. Stadium construction for those sports is breaking records in the US and all of those projects are heavily subsidized. It’s a giant, capitalist industry and as such it is propped up by tax money, lol.

          • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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            9 days ago

            Oh, I see. We are talking about different things. I am talking about the US funding sports programs that develop talent and allow amateur athletes pursue sports for a living. You are talking about sports entertainment.

            If you are a youth or an amateur athlete, you are all on your own in the American system. Even gold medalists often have to scrape by between Olympics.

        • Redacted@lemmy.zip
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          9 days ago

          What? No. The highest paid government employee in most states are sports coaches

          • 0_o7@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            9 days ago

            The highest paid entity in the health industry being health insurance companies doesn’t mean “health” is the main goal.

        • exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          9 days ago

          We don’t fund sports for shit.

          That’s wrong. A big part of the reason why the US dominates in women’s sports generally is because our higher education funding system is based on a bedrock legal principle from Title IX that schools must spend as much on women as they do on men, including in extracurricular activities like sports. So as a result, with college football being a men’s only sport that raises a ton of revenue, a majority of our universities robustly fund women’s sports programs in a large number of sports.

          Plus the US has a relatively unique culture of youth sports associated with their school, sponsored by the schools and their funding.

          So we do fund a lot of youth and amateur (and semi professional) sports, indirectly through schools at various levels, including through whatever government subsidies and policies affect those schools.