I know people who do/did work for a professional team. The justification is there is a huge line of people who want to “work in sports” so they can underpay the front office staff, and it is true. I knew a few people who stayed interns for multiple years in the hope that they would get converted into full time roles at some point.
yep - professional sports teams expect to underpay market rates for technical talent b/c they assume they'll always find people to fill the roles. They're expecting charity. If you like sports / tech / math - just do it as a hobby and get paid what you're worth at your day job.