Just because people may watch it, does that mean it is followed as it was 25 years ago? Sports have become businesses. How do they base their add revenue? By the number of people watching. What happened when newspapers were finally brought to task on their real circulation and readership numbers? Ad revenue plummeted. The super bowl is not about bringing 2 teams together, its about creating an expectation of viewers so add sales can be driven. I just dont think it has the pull as it did before.
In reality, its a boring game. Think about it, LA is the largest media market in the world, and we have been without a football team for 15 years. How do you explain that? Here in southern california we have millions of things we are involved in, rather than to give our time, money and attention to a sports team. I mean seriously, fan loyalty is a contrived marketing gimmick. That team is not “loyal” to you, it doesn’t give a crap how you feel about them, just buy their stuff. You don’t own a piece of the team. You have no impactful say in who gets traded where, or how some dope performs or doesnt, regardless how much you talk about it with your buddies. I mean really at the end of the day, what does it possibly matter?.... It doesn’t. It has all be created as an illusion of importance. Marketing baby.
We’ll have to agree to disagree on it being a boring game. I happen to love the combination of action, strategy, and drama. It’s definitely followed more than it was 25 years ago. A recent Harris Survey said 31% of Americans say pro football is their favorite sport which is 14 percentage points higher than 2nd place. In 1985, 24% had it as their favorite sport. As for not having a professional team, you essentially did for the better part of the last decade. They’re called the USC Trojans. At least they got paid like it.
I don’t disagree that much of pro sports is a marketing gimmick. I also agree that the owners and players don’t care about me except for how much money they can get from me. Guess what, I don’t really care about them either except for how many games they can help the teams I’ve always rooted for win. Is sports an illusion of importance? It almost certainly is. Being a sports fan is completely illogical and people who aren’t will never understand it. It’s an escape from reality, which some of us need considering how crappy life oftentimes is.