Maybe this is a reach for the sake of the lede, but it feels like the 2010s were a decade defined by the individual athlete.
With the rise of social media, individual players have been able to build their brands to new heights. They have their own hashtags, shoe lines and memes. In the NBA, the country’s quickest growing professional sports league, stars are the axis of rooting interest.
College sports, despite the NCAA’s best efforts, are also trending in this direction. Yes, we still largely think of players largely in relation to their schools, but amateurism can’t hold forever.