I’ve said before a lot of the popularity of the NFL has to do with gambling, it’s easy to understand the point spreads and under/over lines, the games are primarily played on Sunday and Sports Gambling is legal everywhere now, some states have adopted more liberal laws others just getting to it, Florida just allowed the Seminole Indian Tribe who controls the casinos in Florida to offer sports gambling in the state, I know a number of people who downloaded their app on their phones are regular gamblers on Sports.
Gambling and lotteries got frequent mentions in Orwell’s “1984”... another tool to keep the populace pacified and under control.