Granted, I can only speak for myself, but I have never watched less sports than I have during the pandemic. My personal reasons are:

1) Sports played without a live crowd are boring, in my opinion. Something about pandemic sports feels exhibition-esque, to me.

2) The pandemic made me re-evaluate my priorities even more than I was already starting to do. Sports just aren't important to me anymore.

3) Many celebrities/athletes have alienated their fans during the pandemic as lockdown measures cripple those who survive "paycheck to paycheck" while the rich push out patronizing selfie videos from posh estates while feigning concern. I don't remember the name of the player, but I remember reading a quote from a young MLB pitcher last spring who was talking about sitting out the season if owners were going to force pro-rated salaries on the players due to the shortened season. I don't remember his exact words, but his opinion was something to the effect of, "I'm not taking any risks for less money. It's not worth it. I'm gonna' get mine." He's certainly entitled to have that stance, and perhaps it worked out for him personally in the short-term. But when people across the globe are begging their local government to let them go to work for low wages, it doesn't exactly ingratiate you with those same people upon whose disposable income your employer is ultimately depending on to pay your multi-million dollar salary.

4) This pertains only to college sports, but I finally got fed up with the charade that college athletics are anything other than a business. The NCAA is a joke. The players don't get a pass from me either, though. Many of them don't take a free education seriously and believe they are entitled to more than that, while feeling no loyalty whatsoever to the school providing those degrees. I didn't watch a single college football game this season, and I don't know if I ever will again.

5) This last point has already been beaten to death, but the consistent creep of political and social issues into sports turned me away from any remaining interest I may have otherwise had in any sports. I don't need to feel lectured when I'm trying to escape the current vitriolic state of our country.

So, considering all of that, I'm not sure the problem ever gets "fixed". I think people will continue to become less and less interested in sports over time. Then, perhaps in a decade or two (if we still have a free society then), perhaps there will be another cycle where sports become more popular again. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say. Or is it absinth?