Hmm, have they calculated the secondary markets that athletics generates? As a CS person I believe that computing/CS is largely irrelevant (like much of scienc

Hmm, have they calculated the secondary markets that athletics generates? As a CS person I believe that computing/CS is largely irrelevant (like much of science) unless someone, somewhere is making money from its applications. Also keep in mind that non-athletes also end up benefiting. At a coarse level - (in strictly discretionary spending) - people buy tickets, misc gear, subscribe to the internet/cable, purchase large screen TV's to watch games, etc. Sports is a great common uniting activity for the masses. Geeks/Engineer types get hired to work on shopping websites, ticketing backend systems, payment gateways, wireless HD video chipsets and whatnot. Even Google who hires all the 'academics' puts them to work so someone somewhere can click a button to buy something while watching a YouTube video (probably sports related :P)