You hear that thrown around a lot, but I don't know how much I buy it. College football is enormously popular, and yet almost all of the players, even at the major schools, are manifestly inferior to what you can see on Sundays. NCAA basketball has an even bigger divide, and it still brings in quite a few fans.

So I don't get that fans only want to see the best in any given sport. Reality doesn't really bear that out.