Keep Government Funding—and Political Meddling—Far Away From Olympic Athletes

Plus: Congress might blow up the pro sports business model, and Las Vegas is struggling

Hello and welcome to another edition of Free Agent! Bring your own smelling salts to today's newsletter, the team will not be supplying them for you.

We're going to talk about the Olympics this week, and how America can keep winning. Then we'll hit on Congress dipping its toes into something that might blow up the pro sports business model. Lastly, we'll discuss why everyone is worried about Las Vegas.

Thank you for the many responses to our survey on how you'd fix the NFL, college football, and MLB. The survey is still open if you have more ideas.

Locker Room Links

• "[President Donald] Trump names himself chair of L.A. Olympics task force, sees role for military during Games"
• "The Bears' dream stadium may be doomed without a tax break."
• Does the Justice Department really need to investigate the WNBA for violating Caitlin Clark's civil rights? One Wall Street Journal op-ed says so.
• The NFL might be heading to the Supreme Court to keep Jon Gruden's lawsuit against the league from going to a public trial.
• Golf is so back: "CBS announces average viewership for its golf broadcasts this year was up 17% from 2024, the highest since 2018."
• March Madness isn't expanding, but college basketball's regular season might be.
• Elsewhere in Reason: "Child Protective Services Investigated Her 4 Times Because She Let Her Kids Play Outside"
• Ohio continues to suck.
  

  Ohio gambling regulators are drafting a rule to ban certain types of microbets, including on MLB first pitches. The proposed ban would be on "specific events within games that are completely controlled by one player," not all player props, according to sources familiar with the…

  — David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) August 8, 2025

Gold Can Be Cheap

Everyone loves to see American Olympians standing on the top step of a podium with a gold medal around their neck, tearing up as the national anthem plays. Most people evidently think their taxpayer dollars have helped fund the cost of training those athletes, even though there's no direct government spending on that. Some think it's time for that to change, but government funding for Olympic athletes is an awful idea—and it might not actually help win more gold medals.

The new concern about Olympic success is actually about college football. Schools can now give their athletes revenue-sharing payments, so athletic departments are shoveling as much revenue and resources into football because it generates the most revenue (for most schools, anyway). The worry is that the sports that develop Olympic athletes (swimming, gymnastics, track and field, etc.) but don't get much attention outside of the Olympics will get cut by athletic departments, hindering the development of would-be gold medalists.

So the federal government should fill in a newfound gap in funding Olympic athletes, the argument goes (without much acknowledgement federal debt held by the public is $29.6 trillion). Besides, every other country is doing it!

But every other country is also losing to the United States.

That won't change even if colleges cut Olympic sports because America is a big and rich country. Our fruited plains (or our populous cities and economic system) are perfect for the development of freaks of nature like Simone Biles, Noah Lyles, and Michael Phelps. We beat most countries at most sports for those two reasons alone.

Biles and Lyles never went to college, by the way, and Phelps was already a double Olympian with six gold medals before he went to the University of Michigan (these days they'd probably make a ton of name, image, and likeness money). While it's still early, the new changes to college sports have not led to a slippery slope of huge cuts to Olympic sports (spare a thought for the golf team at Cleveland State University).

The worst-case scenario is that government funding of Olympic sports leads to political meddling in Olympic sports. Do we really need coaches hauled in front of Congress to explain why Caitlin Clark didn't make the team? Executive branch inquiries into tactical decisions and training regimens? Political favor-trading so that someone's favorite breakdancer or donor's niece can make the roster?

Maybe it's not just our population and wealth that make America so great at the Olympics—maybe it's because we don't let politicians get in the way while every other country has a ministry of sport that micromanages sporting resources. Maybe gold medals aren't as expensive as we think.

For more on this topic, subscriber George M.J. Perry has a great piece in The American Spectator on "the separation between sport and state."

Don't Trust It

I hoped complaints about the cost of streaming sports were just whines from a few cranky people on the internet, but the complaints have made their way to the halls of power in Washington, D.C.

The House Judiciary Committee announced on Monday it had contacted the commissioners of the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL about their antitrust exemptions created under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. (See its letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell here.) Ending the exemption would mean teams sell their broadcast rights separately, which "would make it difficult, and perhaps legally impossible, for the teams to share broadcast revenue," as the great Mike Florio writes at Pro Football Talk. That would upend pretty much everything about how the professional leagues operate as a business. I doubt members of Congress really want to go that far, especially with all the billionaires in play, but playing chicken is still dumb.

The complaints about the streaming costs generally fall along these lines.

It will cost you nearly $700 to stream the nationally televised NFL games this fall across six different streaming platforms. Add nearly $500 more if you want Sunday Ticket. Sports fans are getting gouged. Cable was a much better deal: https://t.co/HU2LUdaOJh

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) August 6, 2025

As I've said before, though, almost no one is watching every single NFL game. Even Goodell doesn't do that. Most people watch their favorite teams, and not even every single game they play. And no one is entitled to see every game—it's not a human right, it's not in the Constitution.

I get that we all wish everything were cheaper, but it can't be forced through government action.

The NFL shouldn't have needed an antitrust exemption to sell its collective TV rights because the law shouldn't have stopped them from doing it in the first place. The NFL isn't a monopoly. It competes against all other forms of entertainment for our attention. It competes against other sports leagues. It even competes against other football leagues (college football and the United Football League, among others). Every minute and dollar we spend on sports is a luxury, not a necessity.

My unpopular opinion about antitrust exemptions is that everybody should get them.

Know When To Fold'em

Las Vegas is not having a great year, and this is tangentially related to sports, so let's get into it. Hotel occupancy is down, revenue is down, and overall visitor numbers are down. Some people blame President Trump, others say it's an early recession indicator, and others just blame poor service and high prices. Maybe some big events this fall will help the numbers recover, but overreliance on big events is part of the problem.

I've only been to Vegas once, for a long weekend boys trip a few years ago. I was a Vegas skeptic, but had a better time than expected and would go back—for the right combination of reasons. The main draw for me wasn't a sportsbook—by that time, I could already bet on my phone in Virginia, anytime and anywhere I wanted, with multiple apps. If I went back, I'd be most interested in cheap gambling on Fremont Street and one expensive dinner and night out on the Strip.

Vegas is what happens when a city government gets too engrossed with the next big event or project and loses focus on regular people. They're too worried about the next headline-making mega deal instead of how under-the-radar small businesses and entrepreneurs are doing (note small business owners complaining about the Formula 1 grand prix). If you're just trying to get the Super Bowl to come to town, you're not thinking enough about what's happening the other 51 weeks of the year.

"Rather than slightly shifting its value proposition toward what the everyday consumer wanted, Sin City committed to a future built on corporate expense cards and increasingly popular sporting events," Joe Pompliano writes on Substack. "Cheap bachelor parties for people in their 20s and 30s have been replaced with dozens of new conferences at the 2.5 million square foot convention center." That might work at getting more visits from the wealthy few on their business trips, but it's not going to bring back the masses, and Vegas isn't Vegas without the masses.

Would you rather win a $10,000 jackpot one time, or win $1 a million times?

Replay of the Week

Kickers just keep getting better and better. (That wasn't the only kicking magic this weekend.)

Jaguars kicker Cam Little just DRILLED a 70-yard field goal pic.twitter.com/7cpyFXgg3s

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 10, 2025

That's all for this week. Enjoy watching the real event of the weekend, the Greeley Kennel Club Dog Show on Saturday.

Comments

[Chumby]

No taxpayer money for any sportsball. Sell tickets, get endorsements, and receive donations.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

This is the way.

[Chumby]

Imagine being on the hook for “Dan and Dave.”

[Longtobefree]

"Some people blame President Trump, others say it's an early recession indicator, and others just blame poor service and high prices."

The unions, general; don't forget the unions.

[damikesc]

Vegas is an overpriced mess. It is a nice place, but unless you're willing to drop $1,000 for a 3 day trip, it is not for you.

[CE]

I blame resort fees. A paper copy of the USA Today with yesterday's news is not worth an extra 25 dollars. And I'm not using the pool, why do I have to pay extra for it?

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

Las Vegas is not having a great year, ..

It started going downhill when the mob lost control.

[Kemuel]

I would go further on the Olympics issue and say that the government should not fund any school sports. Let the boosters/clubs raise 100% of the money themselves. There are many private sector grants that schools can take advantage of without adding to the size and scope of government.

[Uncle Jay]

I love watching the Olympics.
It cures my insomnia quicker than any pill you can get from your local drug store.

[jimc5499]

Jason,
Did you ever think that the decline in Vegas is due to the fact that they no longer have a monopoly on gambling? It use to be that Vegas and to a minor extent Atlantic City were the only places to go for gambling. Now this is no longer the case and Vegas is pricing themselves out of the market.

[See.More]

. . . NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL about their antitrust exemptions created under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. . .

IF antitrust is good and collusion is bad, then they should never have received an antitrust exemption. If, on the other hand, it's okay to give pro sportsball antitrust exemptions, then antitrust is not that great and collusion is not so bad. Pick one. Apply it consistently.

[AT]

Do we really need coaches hauled in front of Congress to explain why Caitlin Clark didn't make the team?

Actually, that would kind of genuinely merit some inquiry. There is no WNBA without Caitlin Clark. She's the sole player that's getting anyone interested in it beyond laughing - laughing so hard you risk peeing your pants - at how pathetic and boring it is.

That might work at getting more visits from the wealthy few on their business trips, but it's not going to bring back the masses, and Vegas isn't Vegas without the masses.

I'll tell you where else you see this - and the reason you see it is because it works: freemium entertainment.

Think of your cell phone games. Most of them are free (or ad-supported). And when a new game hits the digital shelves, they get millions of sign-ups of new players. Depending on how well it's put together, it'll hold interest for awhile - especially when the players feel like they can meaningfully progress through the game. But eventually that progress will taper off, and you'll start to see the player base split into four factions: whales, dolphins, guppies, and FTP (free-to-play).

The whales will spend stupid amounts of money to continue to meaningfully (and rapidly) progress. The dolphins might make some micro-transactions here and there to keep up (about what they'd spend on a console game, more or less - which is usually how they rationalize the spending). The guppies usually won't pony up much unless they REALLY like the game and it won't put them much out of pocket. And then, of course, there's the oh-so-pious FTPs who won't ever spend a penny.

The percentages that make up these groups are astounding. The whales are less than 1% of the total base, The dolphins, maybe 2%. The guppies, probably about 5%. The extreme majority wind up being FTP. Conversely, the whales bring in more than 50% - often up-to 70-80% - of the game's revenue; the dolphins about 10-15%; the guppies maybe 1-5%; and obviously the FTPs offer nothing but the ability for the game to brag, "Over 10,000,000 players, download now!"

The games are designed to attract the whales. They could give a flip about literally everyone else. And invariably at some point in the game this becomes VERY noticeable. You're either knocked out of the ability to meaningfully advance (or, worse, compete), or the milestone becomes near-impossible to attain without spending inordinate amounts of daily play over long periods of time, or what would be game-breaking advantages on an even playing field are suddenly for sale. This is when a game shifts from FTP to PTW (pay-to-win).

Vegas may not be Vegas without the masses - but the name of the game is and always will be money. And when the interest wanes for the FTPs or the folks who are only going to stick a little bit of their vacation money on the tables and in the machines, they're going to start catering near-exclusively to the PTW. (Compare this to say, Macau, where the number of hard gamblers regularly outpaces that which Vegas attracts.)

Since gambling is losing its attraction, Vegas would now rather lose 50,000 guppies than risk losing 1 whale. And let's face it - "the Vegas experience" - like that hot new mobile game - ain't what it used to be. Not unless you've got pockets full of dollabills to be dropping on GK/Raider (and, coming soon A's) games, U2 concerts, the latest celebrity chef restaurants, and so forth.

That's why they could care less about having 3000 rooms empty, so long as the ones that are filled are whales. Yield over volume. The hotel/casino is no longer the selling point. Heck, the Vegas Strip isn't even the selling point anymore.

The high-end entertainment that costs more than the plane ticket and hotel stay combined is.

If Vegas was really smart, they'd take a good close look at how they can work that yield/volume metric. How much are those Tay-Tay tickets going for these days? Sure, you can go see Taylor in your hometown for $1000/seat. Or you could come to Vegas, stay at the Bellagio, and scan your room key for an 80% discount on the 1000 seats we reserved. The tourist won't care what machinations the Bellagio has going on in the background with Team Swift. They'll see it as "A Taylor Swift concert AND a trip to Vegas for the same or better price? I'm in!"