Traditional sports ranking of community strength:

Teams > Players > League

but esports/socialmedia/fantasy/tradingcard-boom/tech-unbundles-everything has shifted things

Players > Teams > League

Players are realizing it. Teams will be wise to adapt fast.

We're doing our best at @weareangelcity to build a world class pro sports club with the new reality in mind.

e.g., For a century, there was tremendous brand + community value in 'putting on the pinstripes' of the NY Yankees bc a player was imbued with the community + brand love from being associated with the club... just like a journalist getting a job with the NY Times...

But now, fans -- the community -- have a direct relationship with the individuals (the players/journalists) who are doing the real work every day. That is a huge power shift... and it's a very good thing for those men + women.

Very different industries, obviously, but Substack-ification of media in 2020 was a preview for a lot of other sectors. Going to be interesting to watch in sports, bc it's the most meritocratic industry, yet still very problematic history between owners + players.