Question

Hello Rabbi,
I read the amusing column about lighting candles during the World Cup.
I’d like to ask, in a somewhat more serious tone, something that’s been on my mind (and I didn’t find any discussion of it when searching previous questions).
Some people see the World Cup as nothing more than bread and circuses, 22 people running after a ball, etc.
But there are quite a few real advantages to the World Cup; for example, it is claimed that it serves as a kind of sublimation of wars between nations, and so on.
One can also see the values promoted by sports in general (though perhaps not competitive sports), and so on.
At the same time, yesterday I discovered that a great many people whom I greatly respect, intellectually and morally, invested a lot of time in watching the World Cup.
And I’m wondering how this phenomenon should be viewed.
Should it be treated like any other psycho-physical phenomenon (eating, drinking, vacationing), etc.? If so, I have no problem with it, but I feel uncomfortable with the whole preoccupation, including when elevated people join the celebration, whereas perhaps it would have been better at least to turn the event into something like the national lottery, so that the success would lead to promoting physical activity in the community / or at least to sound some kind of public message in that direction. For example, it would have been possible to purchase the television broadcasting rights remotely and save the public broadcasting corporation money that was invested in flying out a delegation of selected commentators, etc.
The same is true of the other betting games and so on, but there I don’t see elevated people who feel they absolutely have to watch the final.
Or perhaps there really is some depth in this worldwide event, with a message that goes beyond the limits of my narrow perspective.
For example, one might say the same about the assembly of Hakhel, and perhaps even things relating to neglect of Torah study, especially in the Zoom era. Yet one can understand that such a gathering serves a more elevated purpose, and so on.
I would be glad to know the Rabbi’s view.