Vol. 30 No. 329 (2025)

Full Passions, Empty Pockets
Modern sports spectacle, especially elite soccer, has established itself as a factory of collective passion that, paradoxically, leaves the pockets of its most loyal consumers empty. Billions of fans around the world invest not only their time and emotion, but also a significant portion of their income in an increasingly inaccessible industry.
This paradox manifests itself on several fronts. Ticket prices are skyrocketing, turning stadium attendance into a luxury. Official jerseys, renewed annually, require an expense that often exceeds the average person's purchasing power. The cost of pay-TV packages to follow each match is another economic barrier that turns loyalty into a constant financial burden.
As the revenues of clubs, leagues, and stars reach stratospheric figures, the average fan faces a dilemma: give up the experience or go into debt to keep their passion alive. Sports are used as an effective social distraction, but their consumption has evolved from simple entertainment to an expensive commodity that extracts emotional and economic value from the base, creating a growing gap between the wealth of the sports elite and the increasingly degraded financial capacity of their devoted followers.
Tulio Guterman, Director – October 2025