Gambling is like that too.

iirc, the piece said some 27% of USians use on-line gambling apps. Unsurprisingly, some 90% of the money blown on gambling, was bet by the dumbest 5%.

Here's another stat, from the net sifter:

American Football: Ranks as the clear #1. Data shows roughly 31% to 36% of Americans name it as their absolute favorite sport to watch, and regular-season games routinely outdraw the championship finals of other sports. The Super Bowl is also the most-watched single annual television event in the country.

Basketball: Follows in second place, with roughly 11% to 17% of fans naming the National Basketball Association or basketball as their top choice.

Baseball & Soccer: Compete closely for the next tier, with soccer seeing a massive surge in recent years to rival or edge out traditional stalwarts like Major League Baseball in popularity and preference.

Ice Hockey: Traditionally rounds out the major spectator sports as the fourth of the major domestic professional leagues via the National Hockey League.

That invites another question: the NHL and NBA do not have their own farm systems. They use colleges as a defacto, taxpayer subsidized, farm system. That implies the deafening hype laid on college football and basketball is designed to keep the taxpayers in line, subsidizing the farm system. MLB has it's own, very large, farm system. You don't see college baseball games monopolizing TV on Saturdays, do you?

So, when are colleges, and high schools, in Shinyland, going to drop the pretense of educating anyone, and simply be fronts for football and basketball teams, and, coincidentally, drive interest in sports gambling?

From the net sifter:

While there are no legally accredited high schools that completely abandon academics—since players must maintain academic eligibility under NCAA regulations—there is a distinct tier of "football factories" where the entire institution is architecturally built around producing elite football talent.

Rather than functioning as traditional neighborhood schools, these programs operate like professional sports franchises. They actively recruit nationwide, build multi-million dollar stadium complexes, stream games on national television, and customize online or accelerated learning schedules so players can maximize their time in the weight room and on the field.

Football, as the mission, in place of actually learning anything. We are frelled.

Steve