NFL stinks now compared to what it used to be. It certainly looks less like what it used to be than MLB does. They should've renamed it the National QB Leaue a while ago.
I agree with you on the marketing of the sport. You can't escape it, it's all the sports media talks about, it's everywhere in commercials, and people who know nothing about the sport can rattle off all the player stats because everyone is in a fantasy league.
I'll still be at the Bears game Thursday night but I don't pay attention to what's on the field like I used to.
NFL-only fans are not a new thing. For many busy adults, it's the only sport they can follow in its entirety. Nearly every game is on a Sunday and it's a three-hour commitment for the entire week.
If you watch all of your favorite NFL team's games it's a 51-hour commitment for the regular season.
If you watch all of your favorite MLB team's games it's roughly a 500-hour commitment. It's a ton of weeknight games, some west coast games, etc.
Baseball is incredibly boring to most people (this coming from someone who used to be a huge baseball fan before quitting cold turkey almost 15 years ago) plus I don't know how any busy adult with a family can follow it. Free time is hard to come by and I can think of a dozen things I'd rather do with it than watch regular season baseball. Hell, even as a huge NBA fan it's difficult to watch much of the regular season, especially since it matters so little relative to the postseason.
What is a new style of fan are the ones who do not watch any games in their entirety. Even big games. Even championship games or series. They watch 10-15 minute extended recap/highlight clips on social media and that's it. That's the youngest generation of sports fans.
Meld these two comments together and you have the right answer.
As adults get older, time gets more precious for most of us and the ability to devote 2-3 every night to sports just isn't reality.
So, you end up finding one or two sports you devote most time and energy towards and start to lose interest in others. Even your favorite teams become less interesting when they are having bad seasons.
Rules for sports have changed over the years and there are some rule changes you like and others you don't. Those can change the characteristic of the game and cause some to lose interest.
Free agency is another area which creates so much roster turnover if you blink you lose track of who is on "your teams".
Add in the gambling and fantasy sports angles and you have a perfect cauldron for leaning towards specific sports.
Take baseball. I despise batters being all armored up, pitchers not being allowed to pitch inside and batters refusing to bunt or hit the opposite direction when they put the shift on certain players. Batters have completely forgotten the art of hitting. It's basically nine innings of home run derby every game to me. I also don't like the pitcher has to pitch to a minimum number of batters rule. Managing a staff during a game is a big part of the art of managing in MLB. If a manager wants to use one pitcher for one batter, so be it. I'd also have the batter can only leave the box once during an at bat and pitchers can only step off the mound once per at bat and are on a 25 second clock.
For NFL I don't like the QB's basically being completely off limits for contact now. Yeah, I get the Tua thing but if teams were so worried about QB's getting drilled, they would keep more players in for pass protection, run quicker routes, do Randy Edsall's favorite play, the delayed inside hand off or draw, run screens, whatever. Defenses have a couple of players whose sole function is to get in to backfield and get to the passer. Offenses need to scheme against that.
Hockey lost me with all the different number of skaters and overtime rules, and point scoring scenarios. I was fine with simple W/L/T and keep everyone on the ice.
Basketball is so much more skilled than it was compared to what I would consider the glory days of 1980 til the end of the Bulls second three peat. But, I don't want to watch 50 3's being shot every night. I could care less who is shooting the shot- If a center can shoot 3's, great. Let him do it. The James Harden's of the world nailed the coffin shut for me with the YMCA lunch time style of put head down, drive recklessly and call everything a foul. Add in players being able to travel all over the court all the time and it's not the same sport I enjoyed watching. The eurostep is nice, the defensive rotations are nice to watch but the game bores me.
As a guy who is approaching the age where I'm no longer considered the premium age group for advertising, I watch mostly UConn college basketball and football and some college football on Saturdays. College is either at my house or a friends house. The only NFL I watch at my house is Sunday Night Football because it's a nice way to end the weekend. If I watch any other NFL at my house it's more background noise while I'm doing other stuff. Or, we sometimes go to friends' houses to watch games because they have a rooting interest in a game.
Long story short. For those of you young enough and free enough to constantly watch and enjoy all the sports you like now, congrats and appreciate the moment. It will fade away.
