I love, love, love the story USA Today published about how more people choosing to watch NFL games from the comfort of their own home instead of spending the money to attend games in person. The quality and quantity of broadcasts makes games and sporting events even more accessible to fans. Watching games at home lends itself to an even larger audience. Translation: When you go into work there’s a good chance even more of co-workers will be talking about the game or their favorite team.
I also think it helps the even the playing field (pardon the sports pun) in the fact that ‘hard core’ fans are choosing to stay at home and watch games. The more casual fans – who might not have invested the time to go to a game anyway – are getting the same viewing experience. It helps to blur the line between rabid fan and casual viewer. I don’t care which one you are -I just want you out there talking sports – but I do think it can be a confidence booster for the more casual fan. Rest assured you’re not missing anything by watching the game on TV, in fact it’s probably a better experience for you all the way around. I know from personal experience that being on the field during the game only gives you a partial picture of what happened. Besides, as a TV reporter – I’m glad viewership is going up.
As usual, you nailed it. I found this to be true 5 or 6 years ago. I would come home from a game, and have to watch TV to find out what I missed. It’s a narrow perspective at the stadium. A great experience, for sure….but you really don’t get the whole picture.