If you’re a fan of any modern sport, the one thing you’ve been certain to see in recent years is change.
Every sanctioning body is playing a balancing act between tradition and entertainment – and right now entertainment’s winning.
The question is whether they’ll eventually go too far in that pursuit.
Fueled by surging streaming leaders and eager TV giants, in a time when live sports are their one saving grace, nearly every discipline within the modern sporting world has undergone one or more significant changes in recent years.
The NFL’s added another regular season game and extra playoff teams. College football may not be far behind, though the current format is on hold for now. Spring football leagues keep rising up with hopes that one will stick. NBA fans now tune in to play-in games before their postseason even begins and may eventually have a midseason tournament. The MLB’s expanded its playoff field, too.
Some of soccer’s biggest teams tried to form a Super League. Though it failed, the concept will surely arise again in the future. Others want to make the World Cup a biannual event, though the concept also seems dead for now. The NHL hasn’t expanded its postseason field yet, but there are calls for action that could see it occur soon.
Motorsports hasn’t been immune from the shift, either.
Formula 1 has trialed shorter sprint qualifying races to give TV another race to market on Saturdays. Only three are being ran per year at the moment, but it’ll shift to six if the relevant parties can quit squabbling over money. The NTT IndyCar Series hasn’t succumbed to adding extra races or playoffs yet, but it has tweaked its qualifying format for the Indianapolis 500 again, hoping to keep viewers lured in with the fight for pole with bumping appearing unlikely this season.
The biggest proponent for change in racing, NASCAR, continues to go full bore after anything that may entice extra eyeballs. From stage racing and…
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