sit behind screens these days. Gotta make the sport more entertaining and a place to "be" physically social.

Yep. Got to make regular games a social activity and the big games we have to make into events.

What you are describing is ' atmosphere ' , you don't get that with meaningless matches in less than 3/4 full stadiums

. The AFL which is a serious marketing machine, by global standards, has the money to do it real well. The NRL is a distant 2nd fiddle to this fine example.