Sports broadcasting blackouts are killing American culture

Monoculture is a concept describing a society in which everyone — or at least a large plurality — shares common interests. America once had one in spades. People stopped on the street to watch the "Seinfeld" finale being broadcast in Times Square. Over half of the entire country watched the final episode of "M.A.S.H."

And, of course, there were sports. America’s two most popular sporting leagues, Major League Baseball and the National Football League, once dominated their respective halves of the year. At one time, almost 60% of American households watched World Series games.

But now that’s changing. And while determinists may argue that it was an inevitability that some sports may wax or wane in popularity, they did not have to. They are being killed.