The crowds and risk might actually be linked, though, i.e., it's more fun to watch because it looks riskier. I think the reason sports are popular is because they provide an outlet for warlike instincts, and football provides an exceptionally good war simulation, short of paintball or airsoft.
Then why isn't the rest of the world just as enamored by American Football as Americans? It's an almost non existent sport anywhere outside the US. If it really were more fun to watch than soccer or rugby, it would surely be more fun to watch in the UK, Germany, Brazil, etc.
It's only more fun to watch because you're used to it and your sporting culture is built around it.
Wars tends to be a tad more dynamic than gridiron. Out of the major ball sports it's by far the most dragged out: 5 seconds of mayhem, 60 seconds of faffing about. Repeat for 3 hours.
Soccer, god rot its socks, is probably a better model. Hours of furious sprinting and jogging, lots of posturing and almost nobody ever wins convincingly.
Wars tends to be a tad more dynamic than gridiron. Out of the major ball sports it's by far the most dragged out: 5 seconds of mayhem, 60 seconds of faffing about.
I have never been to war, but I have friends who have, and your description of gridiron sounds just like their description of war. 2 month faffing around at base, 2 hours all out mayhem and intense fire fights, repeat for 12 month.
I think international soccer is a better analog for war, not least because there are actual rivalries between countries that have gone to war with each other. Every time England plays Germany, the English play it up as a rematch of the World Wars; every time Argentina plays England, it's revenge for the Falkland Islands.
