Why do Americans love football so much?

Football is a sport that involves cheating, drugs, and an immense amount of violence, yet it is the number one grossing sport in America. But why? Or a better question of how? With the first sentence I wrote nobody would ever believe that football could be so entertaining and captivate us for entire weekends during the fall and winter months, yet it does.

With over 100 million people watching the last Super Bowl, this sport is no fluke but a masterpiece to capture America’s interest every year. The combination of companionship and pure testosterone associated with the sport makes it a man’s dream of a sport. American football has thirty two teams and everybody has one that this their favorite. This makes it so much fun for people because they live and die with this team Eric Simons says here. He says that when someone’s personal team wins a game it gives them an emotional high that carries onto to the next week of a Sunday or Saturday for college football fans. This is a day that people can not wait for. For example, all throughout the year even when football season is over ESPN has a show called NFL Live airing every single day.

NFL live is a show that highlights the recent NFL news and gives opinion from analysts and past players. The shows even receives very good ratings when there is no football for another six months solely due to the anticipation and excitement that surrounds everything to do with football. I even catch myself watching it from time to time and have to tell myself that football should be irrelevant right now, but it isn’t. Football never seems to be irrelevant and as the pro football season is starting this weekend and the college season started just this past weekend excitement is at an all-time high for this football season. April Dembrosky writes that the violence is one of the main reasons we are drawn to this odd sport. She writes in this article about the violence of the sport and that as Americans if we know there can be no harm to us it entices us to watch and see what happens. Just as this specific school that we all go to loves football so much and packs the stadium for every single home game as it is an amazing experience.

 

 

 

 

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In this NFL article about game attendance it talks about attendance in recent years at NFL games and it can clearly be seen the uptick in attendance in the recent years.  This picture also describes this by showing since 1950 the huge increase in people in attendance at football games.

 

 

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In the end, there are a few different reasons why Americans love football so much, and with all of these factors combined comes out the number one sport in America. Football is a sport tailored perfectly too its audience and Americans were the perfect audience to this sport making it the number one sport in America.

 

3 thoughts on “Why do Americans love football so much?

  1. Jordan Charles Eisenstat

    I think with popularity of fantasy football, ratings have skyrocket not for just people’s favorite teams, but for the entire league. The casual fan can get into fantasy football, like myself. People are constantly checking their fantasy teams, wanting to see how their players are doing. They flip between games in hope that their player is playing well. The constantly flipping between games improves ratings, making football the most popular sport in America

  2. Caroline Maria Teti

    I love the part where you quoted Eric Simons statement – “he says that when someone’s personal team wins a game it gives them an emotional high that carries onto to the next week”. This is 100% correct. You just cannot wait for the next weekend! In addition, I believe a lot of people will tend to watch ALL the games. Yes we have our favorite teams, but most of us are intrigued by the other percentage of the league!

    Who’s your team?

    and then there are these guys…

  3. Aaron Jacob Harris

    You bring up several good points in your blog post, Mitchell. What I found most interesting was the article by Mr. Simons for the Washington Post. Being a big sports fan, especially football, I do strongly agree that I view my favorite teams as an extension of myself; I live and die by how my team performs. You also argue that football has seen a growth in popularity and attendance over the past 50 or 60 years. Although the data you supplied does support your assertion, I believe this could have been due to a confounding variable. The reason for the recent increase in attendance is directly related to the fact that stadiums have gotten much larger on average since 1950. Out of all 32 American Football stadiums currently in use, not a single one has been in use for the entire duration of the study you cited. Since then, stadiums have grown in capacity, allowing for larger attendance, not just because more people want to go.

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