Sports is a sex and violence substitute ,
its primary use is to prevent high school students from fighting or groping each other. In college and the pros it is primarily another marketing tool.
Building Character? Let's just agree to disagree on that one.
When I was in high school we used to go downtown and get free tickets to join the studio audience of "Championship Wrestling from Florida" (with Gordon Solie!) for their taping sessions. Yeah, it was ridiculous, but at least it was honest.