Why do full time professional sports exist?

Because there is a lot of money to be made with it.
And by the way, they spend most of the time training, which they have to be at the performance level they are. Not much time to actually run after crims.
And if they spent more time chasing crims, or worst, waiting around for crims to chase, their performance would deteriorate to the point of making pointless, performance wise, to pick professional athletes for these jobs.

To entertain, that’s good enough for me.
A better question would be, “Why don’t all the actors become politicians?”
They’re living a lie after all, fakers that they are.

Because people love games. hey always have. Even the Mayans had Ball courts.

Have you ever heard of “A-Rod money”?

Most athletes will never get to play professionally. Among those who do get the opportunity, very few get to have long, successful careers and huge contracts. For the lucky few, however, the rewards are tremendous. Also, a guy (or gal) gets to do what he loves best for a living, and it’s a safe bet that paving roads isn’t on his Top 10 list.

~ Maybe paving roads should be an Olympic sport?
Maybe those who go into the trades should be celebrated/paid more? To retain talent.

Because inner-city kids and rural small town children need a way out they can still realistically dream about.

go packers

If you continue the thought process that led to this question in the first place – which is not a bad question, by the way – then you would also ask the same questions about art, music, theater, fiction writing in general, movies, and any other form of non-edible non-structural (shelter-related) or other capital / infrastructure production. Why do those exist at all? How can we “afford” them?

We can afford to have those elements in our lives – assuming you don’t live in North Korea where it is compulsory to support those things but not enjoy them – because we produce enough of the essentials, and can trade with others making other goods, to build up additional wealth in societies all around the world. That is, the economy that does exist to pave roads (and why do we need roads, by the way?) and grow and distribute food and mine and refine metals and fuels, etc., is so productive that it allows us to accumulate wealth to spend on non-essentials such as entertainment.

Don’t forget the popcorn.

@CWOTUS So sports and non-essentials are luxuries then? You would think the necessities should be taken care of first, work first play second? I would think of it when running over a pothole when going to a game?

Rugby for pussies.

american footballers wear pads because the collisions are a thousand times more damaging than the way those girls slap each other . . .

you keep telling yourself that

No, they wear pads coz they’re bleeding pussies…aye thang yoo.

y’all keep counting on your opinions. i’ll stick with physics . . .

If you think that the world depends on you specifically to fill all of the potholes and produce all of the bricks and building materials and food that it needs, then I guess you’d never enjoy any time off, @talljasperman. Fortunately with modern division of labor and money-based economies, it doesn’t. Enjoy the game.

Because I need to have the Red Sox rule my entire life for 6 months per year! Hooray for Major League Baseball!!! (Seriously, I subscribe to a baseball cable TV service and seldom miss a game.) This year, the Sox just might keep me obsessed for 7 months.

You keep counting on an abacus, me, i’ll use a calculator.

The main reason is that we live in a free country and society, not a planned economy like Russia or China used to be.

Among other things, this means that people can choose their own professions based on their skills, and they can be paid whatever they can negotiate.

Among other things, its why socialism and communism ultimately fail, and why market economies eventually take over.

Because they’re fun to watch and get invested in.

Go Seahawks, fuck the Packs for not beating the 49ers.

You’re right.

Draft them immediately and force them to pave a few roads!

Because people are bored with their lives and are very willing to part with their hard earned money to escape for a little while.

It’s a business. That’s why. People make a lot of money selling T-Shirts and tickets. Advertisers go nuts signing up players to endorse their cheap crap so we’ll buy it. It’s just how the business is run.

Because I would surely die without my Detroit Red Wings. I LOVE hockey with a passion.

Modern day gladiatorial blood sports….Go alpha male and such….

Full-time professional sports exist because people like watching sports, and anything people like watching — advertisers like.

Sports then become tailored to the interests of the advertisers, who themselves prefer a more affluent target market who are more likely to buy their products. I think this may be partly why there’s been such a gentrification of some spectator sports—higher ticket prices, and moves to pay-per-view TV and subscription fees.

Some people think this is the epitome of freedom, or something.

7 on 7 rugby is the bomb

Sevens can be exhilarating, love watching Fiji in that, so explosive.
I prefer full on test matches though, roll on November.