Blockading doesn't even make sense for an argument. Maybe if a nation was eating a ton of nukes, missiles, and/or air bombings. At best people in port cities would be hiding in shelters from ocean bombardment. A navy surrounding a nation wouldn't stop the people in the nation from working and going to entertainment. Cities usually hike up tax rates to pay for stadiums being built and such so sports teams use them, which then people go to, it increases economical commerce in that region if it's popular, which then leads to gains from taxing. In this case you can assume the nation itself is the investor.
I don't mind the rest of the game, as fighting can be fun, but baseball is what I like. I didn't have any alliance pay to build it up, and I still invest in it out of my own expense. The only thing I ever got from an alliance was 11 cities. I play other games and do other things with my time, and baseball is one reason I don't just ignore PW or effectively become a permabot for an AA.