> The even biffer money is ruining professional sports just like
> it ruined the Olympics.
 
I was going to mention that one especially. The Olympics are becoming too big.
 
> OOC, do they have time outs in soccer games for commercials or do
> they just cut away?
 
Regular-competition games are not being broadcast, with some exceptions.
 
But the Champions League games start with a pile of commercials, then the
first half is broadcast in its entirety. Then 6 minutes commercials, 3
minutes of commentator-comments, then 6 minutes of commercials and then the
second half. Then again a pile of commercials, some commentator-comments,
again commercials ...
 
The green itself where it is played is stripped completely from any
commercial signs there may be and only signs from the official sponsors are
allowed. I think last year that was Ford, Heineken, HP and others. There's
also a huge merchandising effort. It's way bigger than NBA NFL or MLB and I
hope that one day soon the system will be so top heavy it collapses.
 
People are actually beginning to turn away from soccer because it is
stuffed down their throat from every angle.
 
There's also the UEFA-cup competition, the European Championships, the
World Championships and all the qualifier games for all these competitions.
I used to be a devoted fan and now I only watch the games of my son in a
minor minor minor league where it is still played for fun.
 
Then a team such as Manchester United from the UK, they are the richest
club in the world, started with their own TV-station ... 6 to 7 hours of
soccer-only TV a day ... it's a pay-channel of course and 80,000 fans are
subscribed. They've got a fan-outfit for the home-games and a completely
different fan-outfit for the away games ... again 80.000 sold every 2
years, because every 2 years there's a different outfit.
 
Then they do have a fan-store in Manchester which is as large as a large
Walmart with nothing else but fanmaterials.
 
You can buy very fancy business-suits there with the Man-U logo embroidered
on it in gold. There's underwear for men with the Man-U logo about where
your dick hangs, there are ladies panties with the ManU-logo where the
'delicate-part' resides. There are fashionable see-through bra's with the
logo hiding the nipples. There are shirts, blouses, blazers, complete
school-uniforms, all materials kids need for school, coocking-utensils ...
you can order cars there and have them painted "Mun-U"-style ....
 
They're absolutely crazy there in Manchester.
 
Now try Madrid or Barcelone ... people are just as crazy there ...
 
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