I love baseball, but MLB stadiums (especially newer ones, but all of them are covered in ads for ghoulish companies) feel like grotesque nexuses for some of the worst part of capital. The Rangers’ new park has Lockheed Martin ads, the Nats have Raytheon ads, the Mariners have Boeing ads, the Astros (lol 🗑️) have Haliburton ads, etc. Hell, they started putting ads on the sleeves of the players’ fucking jerseys now. The Texas Rangers, brought to you by Energy Transfer Operator™️. Remember Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline protest? I’m almost surprised none of the teams are sponsored by TigerSwan or Blackwater. The NFL might be a more overt brain damaging blood sport, but the MLB is still America’s Past Time™️ in the sheer saturation of advertising some of the worst parts of this hellhole corporate orgy disguised as a country.
If it’s any consolation the MLB has the most stadiums without a corporate sponsor name among pro sports. 10 out of 30 stadiums still have their original names, as opposed to the NFL which has 6 out of 30 and the NBA which has 2(!) out of 29. It will be a cold day in hell before Yankees Stadium or Fenway Park give up their storied names. I just really hate referring to ball parks by their sponsors. Imagine saying “I got tickets to the game at Crypto.com Arena!” and not cringing.
The TV experience is even worse, with ads superimposed on the screen. In that regard the NHL is worse. It’s all the main reason I’ve lost a lot of interest in sports over the years.
I love baseball, but MLB stadiums (especially newer ones, but all of them are covered in ads for ghoulish companies) feel like grotesque nexuses for some of the worst part of capital. The Rangers’ new park has Lockheed Martin ads, the Nats have Raytheon ads, the Mariners have Boeing ads, the Astros (lol 🗑️) have Haliburton ads, etc. Hell, they started putting ads on the sleeves of the players’ fucking jerseys now. The Texas Rangers, brought to you by Energy Transfer Operator™️. Remember Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline protest? I’m almost surprised none of the teams are sponsored by TigerSwan or Blackwater. The NFL might be a more overt brain damaging blood sport, but the MLB is still America’s Past Time™️ in the sheer saturation of advertising some of the worst parts of this hellhole corporate orgy disguised as a country.
If it’s any consolation the MLB has the most stadiums without a corporate sponsor name among pro sports. 10 out of 30 stadiums still have their original names, as opposed to the NFL which has 6 out of 30 and the NBA which has 2(!) out of 29. It will be a cold day in hell before Yankees Stadium or Fenway Park give up their storied names. I just really hate referring to ball parks by their sponsors. Imagine saying “I got tickets to the game at Crypto.com Arena!” and not cringing.
The TV experience is even worse, with ads superimposed on the screen. In that regard the NHL is worse. It’s all the main reason I’ve lost a lot of interest in sports over the years.