Has there ever been a sport where the world's best player won so much that sponsors and spectators started to lose interest?

Question

Have there been any sports where the best player is so dominant and wins so many tournaments that sponsors and spectators stopped being interested in the sport?

I can't think of any examples. There are sports where the best player is clear, but they don't dominate to such an extent that people stopped being interested in the sport.

The question Has there ever been a sport where the world's best player won so much they got bored? is related, however, this question asks about the viewers getting bored, not the player.

Answer 1

Alfredo Binda's case might be close. He won 3 Giro d'Italia races in a row between 1927 and 1929 (he also won in 1925). In the 1927 race he won 12 stages out of 15. In 1929 he won 8 consecutive stages. His dominance was so through that the organizers of the Giro d'Italia (kind of sponsors of the sport) payed him to not start in 1930.

Answer 2

Another possibility is the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference. This was a rival league to the NFL that ran between 1946 and 1949.

The Browns record was 47-4-2 and they won all 4 league championships, and, according to at least one source, they were so dominant that fans lost interest.

Edit: to respond to the comment from Allure.

I've got two books in my library that make reference to the fans losing interest in the AAFC due to the dominance of the Browns.

One is Official Encyclopaedia of American Football published in 1989 and the other is The Official History of American Football published in 1990. (This link has the text of the book - search AAFC)

Neither goes into detail, or provides references, merely a sentence or two.

I'm not aware if there is an on-line source that gives references, will have a look.