Sport patterns haven't gotten easier as much as bowlers have adjusted to their environment. The patterns have gotten longer which has an impact I will explain below Also, the modern balls are able to create tracks in the oil patterns very effectively, much the way rubber balls did 50 years ago on lacquer. The difference is that the modern balls have so much surface friction on the dry, that carry is immensely better than many years ago. A lot of the long sport patterns of today remind me very much of tournaments on lacquer in the late 60's.
Even the pros today have changed their strategies over just a few years ago as a result of the much longer patterns that are becoming common. You don't see heavy handed guys going right to 4th arrow and blowing a hole in the pattern right out of the box the way they did for several years. Even guys like Rash start out going up 10 board with lots of end over end revs. This effectively sets up the shot better for everyone