Theatre and Football

Saturday afternoon, at Franca's house with my fellow theatre companion nicolas and matias, watching the football match of Barcelona and Manchester United, we started joking about relations between football and theatre, such as the referee being the backstage, and the players are actually 2 different acting groups "improvising" a play to see who is the best and such. But i took this idea beyond laughter and started asking myself: Is this relation really possible?
It actually is possible. Let me explain how.

Football players have a special talent, they are good at what they do, and so are actors. People pay money to go see this talent these people have, and these people do their best on the "stage" or "field".
There are also certain rules to the "game", but inside these rules, the actors and players are free to do whatever they please to entertain their audience, and/or to win the game.

There are certain people in stage called the backstage and certain people in the field called the referee. Although they both play different roles, they are both there to help the actors and players, but do not directly interfere with the game.

Scenery is easy to compare, it would simple be the field, and props... well the football, the shoes, the goalkeeper's gloves, etc. And each "group" has a manager/director who trains the group to be better and is there to see the play/game.

But after all these comparisons, i started thinking of the people that go to see, and the money that this means. Governments actually make football stadiums because people pay money to go see the games. The football players are just "puppets" for the government in some way, and it all narrows down to the ambition for money, or is the purpose really because of the passion of the game? Or is that passion only for people who enjoy the game, but just means money for governments?

After asking myself these questions, I then moved to theatre, and thought the same:
Although actors do have a great passion for their profession, are they ultimately mere government puppets? But after all, theatre is different. The money does not go to the government, it actually do go to the director and actors. There i found the difference between football and acting. While football is greatly connected to the government, theatre is not. But what if it was? would freedom of speech and critique still be permitted in plays? Would there be many rules and laws enforced into theatre? How would theatre be if it was connected to the ambition of the government for money, like football?