That's because the leagues themselves are not-for-profit organizations. All of the profit in professional sports goes to the individual teams, who do (or at least should) pay taxes on those profits. Whether or not all of the "business expenses" of the leagues are appropriate is, as with any corporation, of course debatable.

Similarly, most religious organizations do not have any owners or shareholders that get dividend checks at the end of every year. I've witnessed first-hand how difficult it can be just to balance the budget; it's always a struggle between higher membership dues, cutting programs, or trying to organize a major fundraising campaign.

Death by snoo-snoo?

Then again, based on the number of almost completely destroyed iPhone screens I see, the Apple Watch could be a huge boon to companies that sell insurance and do screen repairs.

Because they would never get enough campaign contributions to win an election.

I'll just leave this Asimov quote here:

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ...'

Exactly. How dare a United States Senator make government business visible to the public.

Yeah, you'll be wasting it on Slashdot instead.

My prediction is that he'll ask for two planets.

Some athletes will admit that they don't do "completely and totally without you". For a lot of athletes, it's far more enjoyable to play the game with 20,000 people cheering them on than it is to play in an empty arena. I don't know if it's quite as common in professional sports, but I've seen numerous college athletes acknowledge the fans and say how much they appreciate the support.