@groundwork.bsky.social
Building an economy that works for all of us. #WeAreTheEconomy
This deal follows the same billionaire playbook we’ve seen again and again.
Streaming is just another way greedy billionaires gouge you: If you want to see a sports game for all four major sports, that’ll cost you up to **$2,634 a year.**
FIFA is turning fans’ once-in-a-lifetime experience to attend a World Cup to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to price gouge fans.
@lindsayowens.bsky.social & Nia Law show how FIFA’s greed is extracting every last dollar from fans—from $175 parking fees to $80,000 tickets.
Our report proposes "street pricing" policies for publicly funded arenas to put money back into consumers' pockets.
03.02.2026 20:07 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
We can’t help with the Capitals’ performance, but the $16 12oz cocktail is a classic example of gouging.
Fans have no alternatives inside the arena, so billionaire owners charge whatever they want.
It doesn’t have to be this way ⤵️
Today, 66% of voters say essentials are unaffordable, and now FIFA expects families to shell out the equivalent of a month’s rent for one match.
03.02.2026 19:00 — 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
How bad is FIFA squeezing fans? For the last five World Cups, the best tickets to the World Cup would run you about $600-$725.
In 2026 ⤵️
FIFA could make tickets affordable if it wanted to. It could reserve seats for loyal fans. In fact, it has done both before.
Instead, FIFA…
New in @prospect.org: FIFA is gouging fans for cash at this year’s World Cup. @lindsayowens.bsky.social and Nia Law break down how.
Tickets are topping out at $80,000. Not a typo.
That price didn’t happen by accident.
"From 2006 to 2022, the best available tickets to World Cup openers cost between $600 and $725 (adjusted for inflation). Now they are selling for triple that amount: $2,170 in Toronto, $2,355 in Mexico City, and a whopping $2,735 in Los Angeles." prospect.org/2026/02/03/f...
03.02.2026 17:05 — 👍 23 🔁 6 💬 4 📌 1
@alexsjacquez.bsky.social and @ddayen.bsky.social take on the business of sports in @prospect.org.
03.02.2026 17:03 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Over 80% of Americans say sporting events are too expensive to attend. So it’s no surprise fans feel they’re being ripped off.
It’s the same playbook we see everywhere else: billionaire greed, consolidation, and profit above everything—whether it’s housing, health care, or your hometown team.
Details here
prospect.org/2026/02/02/f...
@alexsjacquez.bsky.social and @ddayen.bsky.social in @prospect.org ⤵️
02.02.2026 20:25 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Welcome to sports in the 21st century: KS taxpayers will spend $3 billion to move the Chiefs 23 miles—while the owners keep all the profits.
This is the new business of sports: Kansas hands out welfare to billionaire sports owners while fans fight for less opportunities to see their hometown team.
"As our economy has been defined by soaring inequality, the rising cost of living, the suppression of workers, and the financialization of everything over the last half-century, those same extractive and exploitative practices have crept their way onto the field of play."
02.02.2026 16:24 — 👍 23 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0There it is: Gen Z voters regret their vote for Trump because he's failed them on the economy.
Our @lindsayowens.bsky.social called it back in October when she said young Americans were being squeezed from all sides as the American Dream floated out of reach.
Read it here ⤵️
The Superbowl 🏈
02.02.2026 15:57 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
But it’s not all bad news: We highlight the models that work and the fans and players who are fighting back.
More articles will be released in the coming days—stay tuned for a look into FIFA, athlete unions, the fight for fair pay—and so much more.
The first article is out now ⤵️
Sports unite Americans across every divide.
Billionaires & corporate interests are turning fandom into an extraction scheme, pricing working families out while raking in public subsidies.
The intro article featuring @alexsjacquez.bsky.social & @ddayen.bsky.social takes you behind the bleachers on how the games we love were taken over.
Today, 20% of all billionaires own a controlling stake in a professional sports franchise.
Our new edition with @prospect.org dropped just in time for the Winter Olympics & the Big Game.
We break down how the same forces driving inequality in the economy are corrupting our national pastimes—with the wealthy prospering while fans & even players beg for the bare minimum.
We'll have lots more coming over the next two weeks. I'm super proud of the issue and can't wait for you to see more. You can find each story here as we release them:
prospect.org/archive/feb-...
Sports are just about the only thing we do together as Americans. It connects across generations & cultures, because it encapsulates the ideals we like to think America stands for: competition, fairness, hard work.
Yet as Alex Jacquez & I write, the business of sports stands for the exact opposite.
The American Prospect Feb 2026 cover, "The Business of Sports"
For the next two weeks we at @prospect.org are rolling out a special issue on the business of sports.
Maybe you think this sounds trivial, that there are weightier topics to be tackled.
Actually it encompasses so much about our economy and society. (🧵)
Rising electricity bills are just another thing families are struggling to afford in this economy. We shouldn't have to choose between paying the heat bill, paying rent or having health insurance. bsky.app/profile/grou...
31.01.2026 02:03 — 👍 17 🔁 9 💬 0 📌 0
Working families aren’t imagining it.
Housing, health care, child care, and education now cost so much that most voters say a middle-class life is unaffordable.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/u...
We’ll keep it short and sweet: Kevin Warsh is a disastrous choice to oversee monetary policy as Chair of the Federal Reserve.
30.01.2026 13:23 — 👍 30 🔁 16 💬 1 📌 0
The Fed’s decision to hold rates steady reflects an economy that is clearly losing its momentum as consumer confidence has fallen below COVID-era levels.
28.01.2026 20:37 — 👍 4 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
