The fuck are you talking about? Playing games is a way of spending your time. Football is a game. Video games are games. Tabletop games are games. There are tons of different games. And with all of them it is an undeniable fact that it is always better to actually play them yourself instead of only (!) watching other people do it.
That is such an odd point to make. If I film some random people playing football it's suddenly media? Settlers of Catan becomes something else entirely when I play it on a screen instead of on a table? You're just not making any sense.
We are talking about the difference between a sport and art. Something developed by an artist for a player to experience as the player vs people engaging with a framework of rules for competition
I'm pointing out that watching sport is different than watching someone engage with art that is meant to be experienced first hand. It's inherent to the medium.