Hell, I’m from Canada where we have (mostly) socialized medicine, and the one time I made a claim on private insurance it was denied. That was after I had called them to confirm that yes, my policy (should have) covered that expense.
And it was only a few hundred bucks too, so my frustration was more about the principle of the thing rather than the cost.
With Doug Ford, that’s kind of the point. He’s in deep with the companies that will be awarded the contracts.
…it hasn’t yet gotten absurdly over-commercialized…
As someone who grew up watching hockey, I’m sad to report that it seems to be trending that way.
In the early 2000s, most of the commercial sponsors were limited to ads between periods, at least on Hockey Night in Canada. Those ads were for things like pickup trucks and beer. I do know that American broadcasts would have things like “the KFC power play,” which was cringy.
I watched my first games in over a decade during the playoffs last year and was appalled by how betting odds and the associated apps had taken over both the ad space and the analyst desk.
My son will probably start getting into sports in the next few years, and I’m not looking forward to trying to convince him that no, we can’t win $10k from FanBet or SportsOdds or GambleKing or whatever.
I fully appreciate that, and it’s the same in Canada for many people. I’ve witnessed it personally. I’m very fortunate to be in a position to handle that sort of thing.