The key to what I'm envisioning is that it wouldn't break a site like ESPN entirely -- it would just break the SPA behavior by making links behave like links. The end result is that the site would be more usable, not less.

For sites where SPA behavior is necessary (like Spotify), opting in could be done with a one-time browser prompt, like how location access and DRM playback are handled.

This seems like a more realistic solution than just avoiding these sites altogether, for the same reason that people use ad blockers instead of just shunning sites with ads.

> This seems like a more realistic solution

It's completely unrealistic to break a major browser API.

How many web apps from 15 years ago still work? Flash, Java applets, browser specific hacks, fingerprinting, cross-origin shenanigans... all locked down or eliminated. The internet evolves by breaking APIs.

Would you stop using GitHub as well. They recently move to a SPA models and I think search and readme links were broken for a few days because of history hijacking.

I wouldn't but my point is that a) no one is forcing anyone to use a website and b) it seems absurd to break a major browser API.