American football's popularity has less to do with the quality of the game than the fact that the championship can have a party planned around it, amirite?

+17 American football's popularity has less to do with the quality of the game than the fact that the championship can have a party planned around it, amirite?

by henryokuneva 5 months ago

That doesn't explain the regular season being so popular. They are regularly the most watched thing on TV on a weekly basis.

by constanceebert 5 months ago

Sports betting and fantasy football are certainly factors. But I think it's mostly popular because it's a really fun sport to watch. There's so much strategy on every single snap. You see guys hit each other, try to out run each other, make incredibly athletic plays. It's just fun to watch. Simple as that.

by No_Status 5 months ago

There's far more of every other sport to get on. Betting on football happens because it's popular not because of opportunity, there's far more opportunity in every other sport. I love great catches too but IMO baseball has the greatest highlights but, I admit, can be boring until then. In football, the ball is being thrown to the receiver, there are great catches, but great catch in baseball come in spite of the efforts of then one who sent the ball in play.

by henryokuneva 5 months ago

To me, baseball highlights are boring. You've seen one high light reel, you've seen them all. Oh look, another home run. Oh look, a diving catch. I miss the small ball royals team that won the World Series 9 or so years ago. That was a fun team to watch.

by No_Status 5 months ago

I meant to mention, home runs are not highlights. They may be if the fences were moved back.

by henryokuneva 5 months ago

yeah i respect the hell out of baseball players but it's one of the more boring sports to watch imo. theres a lot more variety in something like football, hockey, soccer, motorsports, or hell even basketball i will say tho any sport is fun to watch in person. i went to an MLB game last May and it was awesome and i got a good view of the game winning rbi in that game (yankees vs rays). also i went to a savannah bananas game this recent friday and while thats obviously much different from baseball it's still fun to watch the baseball aspect

by rwehner 5 months ago

I love baseball, especially in person. But I can't watch highlight reels of baseball. It's the same thing over and over again. But watching live, it's fun to watch every pitch, watch the defensive positioning, and the strategy on offense.

by No_Status 5 months ago

I would argue that the NFL is the only major American league that is structured in a way that people can be fans of the sport, and not just the team. Your team has at most one game per week, but a lot of football fans can watch 5 or more games per week. Even if 10% of fans are this dedicated, it can double viewership. Beyond that, the game is almost optimal for broadcast television. There are lots of natural points to take a break resulting in more advertisements, and much higher revenues.

by Anonymous 5 months ago

Really didn't know I was copying anything

by henryokuneva 5 months ago

Right you really came in here and though "Surely this will be the first unpopular opinion about the Super Bowl!"

by DaikonTraining 5 months ago

by henryokuneva 5 months ago

Except the game is on sunday and 90% of americans work monday. I fell asleep at halftime. Now if the game was on Saturday like it should be. Then more parties would be had.

by Tate74 5 months ago

This is everything, ever. Lol

by Predovicmyles 5 months ago

Most people don't have the attention span to enjoy baseball anymore. Also, football season is short. MLB teams literally play 10x more games per season, so the scarcity of NFL games causes a lot more interest.

by StrengthUnlucky 5 months ago

It is an exception, looking at it entirely from the outside here in the UK. It is aired in the middle night on TV and we know it is a "thing", but we don't have an equivalent in our sports. The FA Cup final in theory should be the same but it is really only football fans and those of the teams involved who really care. Entertainment before and during the game isn't a thing, they sing hymns ffs. It would take something like England in a World Cup final to get anywhere near that, and it would be pubs that are busy rather than people hosting parties.

by sziemann 5 months ago