TBC, I don’t watch or care anything about the sport. I am curious why it hasn’t gone to full military tech style communications between players and augmented heads up display style interfaces. It certainly isn’t due to a lack of money. It is like the ultimate battle tech. What could possibly be more American than mock battles over an inflated pig carcass with military tech shit? Like drone view of every player, in helmet view, isolated coms, and off site real time strategy. Sounds about as potentially popular as a consul or first citizen hosting naval battles in a coliseum IMO.
IMO that adds to the appeal if there is disparity in the tech. I don’t think the tech would really make a difference other than adding a few layers of interesting broadcasting information that might make the game slightly less dull for someone like myself, although not anywhere near enough to watch a 1 hour game tailored around over 1 hour of obscene ads I find grossly offensive. Americans love their underdog team stories. The idea that limiting funds has anything to do with it is bogus as teams are renowned for buying wins through various means. Such tech would normalize military service and likely have a trickle down effect to lower levels. Standardization would likely reduce cost and could likely get a DARPA like subsidized program as it is directly connected to battle tech. It would also potentially showcase military tech in a strategically advantageous way through both showing a hand at the poker table of geopolitics while not necessarily revealing the true capabilities or extent of actual battle hardware tech.