I don’t live in the market where my favorite football team plays, but I do live in the same time zone, so if the local team is playing, I can guarantee that I will not see my team play.
Fantasy football means that I don’t just care about one or two games a week. I care about a lot of them- either because I have a player in the game or my opponent does. It also makes it easier to convince the husband he should put up with me watching football all day on Sunday, because suddenly, he cares, too.