I think you're being a bit too pessimistic. As an amateur athlete, I can definitely see the utility (albeit limited) in this. There are lots of parks in my area

I think you're being a bit too pessimistic. As an amateur athlete, I can definitely see the utility (albeit limited) in this. There are lots of parks in my area (I live in Ottawa... obviously this is location specific) where I could set this up and not worry about it being stolen. And I wouldn't set this up for a game, but it would be useful while practicing/training - and my teammates would not give me shit about it. I can't comment much on the other use cases that you've gone over, but as an amateur athlete this is totally something I could use. That said, I would rather rent this than own it.