> The team associations had become a focus for various social and political issues for which the general Byzantine population lacked other forms of outlet
And:
> Some of the senators saw this as an opportunity to overthrow Justinian, as they were opposed to his new taxes and his lack of support for the nobility. The rioters, now armed and probably controlled by their allies in the Senate...
If you want to bring politics into sports, then i'll just say videogames are just as political as sports are, and the death count is still way way lower (hypothesis, but I'm pretty confident).
I'm not saying "Video game toxicity is not a problem." it is, it's a big problem. But lets dispense with easily disprovable hyperbole like "it's the MOST toxic enthusiast culture"