That would be the opposite effect as most sports fans don't enjoy commercials. You are talking about from a corporate standpoint, I'm talking about from a fan perspective. And we get all the WC games on ESPN with no commercial breaks, yet it still isn't a hugely popular event here.
Americans like sports that they dominate that's it , if the US soccer team was the best in the world ,soccer would be huge in America.
I heard people in America saying tennis sucks now , isn't like it used to be when Sampras ,Agassi were playing

HW boxing is dying despite the fact that Vitali Klitchko made 25million in his last fight.
Americans got really excited about the Tour the France when Amstrong was dominating now they don't give a fuck
Swimming was the most exciting sport in the world

in the last Olympic games...................
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