The world is changing. There was no such thing as an athletic scholarship or professional sports league for most of history but people started to play sports and other began to enjoy watching them and now they are big money things from which educations and even livings are earned.
I know this because as most know son is a great athlete who earned a scholarship and is getting his education paid for. These things are becoming a pathway to other things as well. Time is going to tell us how big it will become but it is certainly trending up and looks like it may well become a way to bigger things.