Brooklyn Square Card Parlor

Paywalling the greatest spectacle of any sport will inevitably lead to a decrease in its relevance. 50 years ago, half the human population watched Boxing’s heavyweight title (Ali’s most viewed fight had 2 billion viewers). Now the biggest fights are getting just over 1 million PPV. While I understand that PokerGo’s decision to paywall the WSOP Main is purely business, I believe it to be shortsighted. The top boxers may get paid more than ever today, but the sport has a fraction of the cultural impact it once had - a trend unlikely to reverse. In the future I hope when the WSOP assigns streaming rights for the main event that they have the foresight to make sure the final table is accessible to all. Seems important not only for the health of the sport, but just good business as more viewers should surely lead to higher participation and sponsorship as well.