firstly they are professional athletes, they play for the pay cheque
step back, think about it this way, if the FA Cup didn't already exist and someone suggested starting it, it wouldn't have a chance
I'm going to use a Formula 1 analogy as I feel that separates it enough from preconceived bias
We have the current race calendar where drivers accrue points on a race by race basis, at the end of the season the highest points total wins F1, now, let's add a second competition alongside that, we are going to have extra races (some of which will be in car parks and school playing fields), only you don't get any points from these, and we are going to let amateurs in go karts and family mini vans onto the same track, with our highly trained and expensive superstar drivers, and at the end the one that wins gets a pat on the head, nothing else, no place in the race of champions, just a pat on the head
of course the FIA are never going to do that, as it's an absolutely bonkers idea
Terrible analogy and I can't debate with you on this I have very strong feelings on this and were not going to agree so let's move on.