Tonight, an NBA finals game is being played at Madison Square Garden. Security around the arena is heavily heightened due to the expected attendance of President Donald Trump and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Pedestrian and vehicle access is restricted. Visitors face airport-style screening procedures.
This is one of the most sought-after tickets in sports. On the secondary market, prices range from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars depending on seat location.
It is not an isolated case. Beginning in June and continuing through July, the FIFA World Cup is being held across North America. Ticket prices have reached extraordinary levels, while parking, transportation, and accommodation costs around many matches are making attendance increasingly out of reach for ordinary people.
Some will say this is simply market demand at work — that cultural phenomena find their natural price. But consider the contradiction: we do not subsidize other businesses with taxpayer dollars, nor do universities stake their reputations on them. If sports were just another industry, cities would not be financing stadiums, and universities would not be building their identities around athletic programs. We treat sports as a public good — and then allow them to be run as a private one.
But sports are only one example of a much broader pattern. Healthcare, housing, education, and civic life have all undergone a similar shift — from institutions organized around collective need toward systems governed by market logic. What was once treated as a public good becomes a private opportunity. What was once a citizen becomes a consumer.
This is part of why so many people sense that society is fracturing. Increasingly, some can participate, and those who cannot—those who can afford access and those left watching from outside. The criteria that determine who gets the best seat at a game are not so different from the criteria that shape who gets the best housing, the best healthcare, or the most political influence. In each case, the highest bidder gains entry, and everyone else adjusts.
The question is not whether markets have a role to play. They do. The question is whether we want every sphere of life to be governed by market values—and whether a democracy worthy of the name can survive that outcome.
After all, what game are we really playing? When everything becomes a commodity, profit wins—but community and culture lose.
