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My guess is because of this: >For anyone who has ever wondered why American Football is so popular in the US in spite of being fairly boring to watch... I'd ar

My guess is because of this: >For anyone who has ever wondered why American Football is so popular in the US in spite of being fairly boring to watch... I'd argue that many Americans view watching football to itself be a patriotic act. I love football and don't find it boring at all. The GP is writing off millions of people as irrational, overly patriotic morons. The comparison to the rest of the world is silly as well because a lot of us find soccer to be about the most boring thing ever behind NASCAR and golf, but obviously many disagree with me. >> It's really absurd how Football announcers have these gruff, hyper-masculine voices and how the entire sport coalesces nearly every negative aspect of masculinity and bro culture (2). Yeesh, spare me. Yeah, it's insane how most announcers have "gruff, hyper-masculine voices" considering the majority of them were players themselves. Players in a sport which attracts the most athletic and physically gifted men in the country. How could it be? It's almost as if high levels of testosterone are correlated with higher levels of strength, athletic ability, and a deeper voice.

resters 8y ago
To be clear, my point is not that Football is boring -- I like to watch it now and then when it's a close game. It's that without the government sponsorship, the sport and viewership would be significantly smaller, probably about as popular as rugby.
- EpicEng 8y ago
  It seems to me that your point was exactly that it was boring and that its popularity is due solely to US government propoganda. It seems that way because that's exactly what you said. I just don't know how you escape that given what you wrote: >For anyone who has ever wondered why American Football is so popular in the US in spite of being fairly boring to watch (and in spite of being fairly unpopular nearly everywhere else in the world), the NFL receives significant funding every year from the US Government and is part of the PR strategy to promote military enlistment as a patriotic act (1). >I'd argue that many Americans view watching football to itself be a patriotic act. And now we have >It's that without the government sponsorship, the sport and viewership would be significantly smaller, probably about as popular as rugby. Where did you get this idea? The military stuff is very recent and does not in any way constitute a large portion of the NFL's revenue. You're just making things up to fit your own notions of how the world works.
- mulmen 8y ago
  That's absolutely wrong. The main revenue stream for the NFL is advertising, not government subsidy.
  - astura 8y ago
    And even if it was, football is still very popular outside of the NFL.
- function_seven 8y ago
  The government sponsorship thing is very recent. Football has been very popular for much longer than the whole military recruitment angle has been in effect. People didn't start watching football when they heard that a few jets would be flying over before kickoff. (And, for the record, I hate all that jingoistic crap. The sport would be much better without it)
  - __david__ 8y ago
    The government sponsorship is the exact opposite of what the OP thinks: it's military recruiters latching on to something popular to get military recruitment up, not the NFL getting bolstered by government sponsorship.

resters 8y ago

To be clear, my point is not that Football is boring -- I like to watch it now and then when it's a close game. It's that without the government sponsorship, the sport and viewership would be significantly smaller, probably about as popular as rugby.

EpicEng 8y ago
It seems to me that your point was exactly that it was boring and that its popularity is due solely to US government propoganda. It seems that way because that's exactly what you said. I just don't know how you escape that given what you wrote: >For anyone who has ever wondered why American Football is so popular in the US in spite of being fairly boring to watch (and in spite of being fairly unpopular nearly everywhere else in the world), the NFL receives significant funding every year from the US Government and is part of the PR strategy to promote military enlistment as a patriotic act (1). >I'd argue that many Americans view watching football to itself be a patriotic act. And now we have >It's that without the government sponsorship, the sport and viewership would be significantly smaller, probably about as popular as rugby. Where did you get this idea? The military stuff is very recent and does not in any way constitute a large portion of the NFL's revenue. You're just making things up to fit your own notions of how the world works.
mulmen 8y ago
That's absolutely wrong. The main revenue stream for the NFL is advertising, not government subsidy.
- astura 8y ago
  And even if it was, football is still very popular outside of the NFL.
function_seven 8y ago
The government sponsorship thing is very recent. Football has been very popular for much longer than the whole military recruitment angle has been in effect. People didn't start watching football when they heard that a few jets would be flying over before kickoff. (And, for the record, I hate all that jingoistic crap. The sport would be much better without it)
- __david__ 8y ago
  The government sponsorship is the exact opposite of what the OP thinks: it's military recruiters latching on to something popular to get military recruitment up, not the NFL getting bolstered by government sponsorship.