I don't think the leap is very far. Sports has always been a way to draw in a few more lost souls that don't understand the dangers of social programming. It starts off small, put some pink ribbons on and say you support breast cancer because our moms matter, then it turned into social justice and we need more bwracks coaching and running teams, but that wasn't good enough, let's add women too. Hey, they can even be refs maybe... I'd say all the while, the athletes were probably becoming more and more deconditioned to the idea that they had a choice to take the moral high ground. After some time, the barrier to entry is full compliance, with the promise of millions of dollars and all you have to do is kneel for the anthem and throw on rainbow shit to show how much you love trannies.
I'd say that it all happens when the money becomes too big to lose. Take the NHL as a prime example. Back in the 80s/90s the sport wasn't for everyone but damn was it fun to watch. From a skills perspective, sure it got more talented and that's just the natural progression of improving on the past. But every gay frill that comes with it now is unnerving and the people who take a stand (Ivan Provorov) are few and far between.
Your sentiment is shared here as well