Football is exciting - watch an exciting movie, maybe Alien, and turn the volume to zero - how exciting is the movie then?
The right sounds in the right place, sounds that make sense.

Totally agree, more crowd sounds, maybe some music at the start of a game, maybe the sound of fireworks after the home team wins.

Bump - maybe not just music at the beginning, but dramatic/tense music throughout the game, but faded into the background to not be distracting. I think this would add a whole new element of enjoyment to playing the game.