I believe the bait-and-switch is also fairly obvious. @steemsports presented itself to the community in a particular way, gained support with that, amassed a great deal of STEEMPower (SP) - the support they gained was in no-small part from a great many smaller members who found it a 'fun' way to continuously add to their modest SP holdings. Everyone who had a vote bot listed them, because it was also profitable for curators.

Then they said no more and compelled people to put money at risk. The immediate response was that their posts stopped receiving support, dropping to all-time lows. THEN, when they realized that they would not be missed if they left STEEMIT entirely .. this game .. which is, kind of a mess.

@free2play may be wrong about the STEEMPower thing .. they do say that they will be liquidating it and distributing it to the winners, but a prize, no matter the size, going to a handful of knuckleheads, that is not SERVING THE COMMUNITY .. it is serving a handful of knuckleheads. ;-)

RESTEEMED!