The Cultural and Financial Forces Behind Football's Popularity | 4min snip from Why That Worked

Speaker 3
Well, to piggyback a little bit off Wills, I think football encapsulates all the things. It's got a great storyline. It's... Tons of great storylines. There's a rhythm to it. It's weekly. I don't have to watch every game to understand what's going on. I can tune in on Sunday. I know the players. So that's my difference in like NFL versus college. It's hard to keep up with, unless you're just a diehard Tennessee fan. You do not know who their quarterback is. But for the NFL, I know pretty much every player in the major positions, so I can connect there. And then for me, why does football work? Is the ability to watch and be entertained by the red zone. I don't watch a game by itself.
Speaker 1
You mean the red zone channel is literally...
Speaker 3
I only watch on
Speaker 1
the red zone. It was working before then. Wow.
Speaker 3
It was. I'm just saying, for me, why does football work today? Do you not have a team that you sit down and you watch? I will watch the Rams play for sure. I'm a Rams fan. Are you from L.A.? I'm from St. Louis. So the Rams moved to St. Louis when I was a teenager. That must have
Speaker 1
been heartbreaking for you.
Speaker 3
Horrible. Because they won a Super Bowl. They did. And so I moved to Nashville. And so when the Rams moved to LA, I said, well, I moved. They moved. I'll stick with them. But there's a loyalty there. See, that's the other interesting thing. Like living in Nashville now, the Titans, if they win, cool. They make it hard. I don't care. There's something in me about my city that I'm pride and I cannot cheer for another team unless it's my city. So there's something to be said about that, too. Identity. So for me, those are the reasons why I think football works for me and for in America and beyond.
Speaker 2
which I think is kind of remarkable about football, and some sports, but exaggerated in football, in the NFL and college football. Like, we live in a culture where we're mostly fair weather fans about most things. Like, we celebrate someone until they start to fail, and then you throw them to the wolves, right? We love doing that. But, gosh, people are loyal to teams that have never even won like people love teams year after year after year through all of it and it's kind of incredible yeah actually gives me a little bit of hope in humanity all right here's my
Speaker 1
reason that i think football took off in the way it has it would have taken off anyway. But we're talking about massively taking off. Yeah. The reason is the money. There is so much money. I mean, everybody says follow the money. It's true. Yeah. Listen to this. Compared to, you say, why didn't soccer take off in America? One, football had kind of got a foothold here. And soccer is taking off here. Football got a foothold. One of the reasons soccer didn't take off is you can't put commercials in it. It wasn't until you could green screen the thing on the sidelines and actually get people to pay you money while you're watching a game. There's no breaks. There's a break at halftime. That's it. Listen to this. Commercial break opportunities. End of every quarter. Two minute warning. Every single timeout. After any score. Kickoffs. Anytime somebody's injured. Replay reviews and change of possessions plus floating 30 second timeouts. You can literally, you can, how many times have you watched football when they'll run a play and they go to commercial? They'll come back, they'll run a play, and they go to commercial. It's so annoying. But the story loop is open so big. Like, they're on the 12-yard line, guys.
Speaker 2
Baseball has all the commercials, and baseball had a foothold before football.
Speaker 1
Right, and it still did better.
Speaker 2
And the NFL still came in. Yeah, the other thing we didn't talk about,
Speaker 1
it's gladiators. It's violent. Yeah.
Speaker 2
I mean, the thing is, whatever the reason why it works. Who
Speaker 1
cares?
Speaker 2
I'm just so happy
Speaker 1
it exists. Thanks for listening to the Why That Worked podcast presented by StoryBrand.ai. If you like the show, follow wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're enjoying this on YouTube, hit that subscribe button and leave a comment letting us know what you think and what you want the guys to talk about in a future episode. Curious about how StoryBrand.ai can help you create clear, effective messaging? Well, you can try it out right now and create a free customized tagline for your business. Just go to StoryBrand.ai. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.

#4: Football—Why It Became America’s Favorite Ritual

Why That Worked – Presented by StoryBrand.ai

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