> the crowds are not made of die hard football fans, the majority of people there are normies that don't give a hoot about football during the 47 other months of a WC loop

I think you heavily underestimate how much normie men care about football here. Most coffee chats with my co-workers devolve into football if they last long enough, and around three out of five of my coworkers under 30 play football with friends every now and then. I'm the only man at my extended family which doesn't care about football, and I need to look amongst my most geek friends to find some men that don't either.

Now, most won't be die hard football fans, but they are definitely into football.