College and pro sports executives are scratching their heads and asking: Why are there declining TV ratings for sports?

That&8217;s an easy question to answer.

Because in the effort to provide more people with the games they want to watch, it is now harder to get the games they want to watch.

There was a time in America when there were four networks &8212; CBS, NBC, ABC and PBS. Each market had four stations and some had a fifth, independent channel, such as WGN in Chicago.

Most adults older than 35 remember how it worked: The local affiliates preempted the network programming in favor of showing local sports with a statewide interest &8212; such as the Golden Gophers. It was a big deal when your favorite local team&8217;s game was picked up and broadcast on a national network.

Because everyone rich or poor could watch the games, teams built wide fan bases.

Then cable TV came along. So did satellite TV. Everyone was excited that more channels would result in more sports. And for a time that was true. The effort to bring fans more games worked. It worked so well that more choices for sports was the prime motivator for switching to cable or satellite.

But the sports TV executives got greedy. They demanded so much for their sports channels that the cost of cable and satellite have climbed out of reach for some folks. They had to go with old-fashioned antenna television, and their old sports teams weren&8217;t there anymore.

There went one segment of sports fans.

Then cable networks &8212; not the sports channels &8212; began bidding on games so people would need their cable company, not satellite or another cable company &8212; to watch the games. One example is Mediacom and Iowa State Cyclones. Now people living in cities without that cable provider could not watch the games and neither could folks with satellite.

There went another segment of sports fans.

Then came the NFL Network and other channels devoted to just one league or conference. Now fans who had cable and satellite couldn&8217;t watch their games &8212; as in the Minnesota-Iowa football game Saturday shown on Big Ten Network &8212; because they are shown to cable or systems who pay big bucks. Usually, the larger the market, the more likely they would have these special channels.

There went another segment of sports fans.

In the effort to make more money off the wide fan base built in the golden days for sports fans, the TV executives have shrunk their market. They are killing what made them successful in the first place.

Don&8217;t forget that the cost of actually attending college and sports games is more inaccessible than it once was, especially for season ticket holders. With the high prices for tickets went another segment of sports fans.

Frankly, there is enough advertising dollars in sports these days that there ought to be a way to provide sports for little or no charge to fans. That&8217;s how they could rebuild the broad base again.

But the TV sports execs and sports teams are so greedy they want to make truckloads of money on both ends &8212; off the advertisers and off you.

The good news is that interest in high school sports remains high. That&8217;s because it still provides what sports fans want: easy access.