I think this is missing the point: Watching people do a niche activity will only find a niche audience. However, the appeal may be exponentially increased by bringing in the human factor and antagonism. Good lessons could be learned from poker coverage on ESPN, once thought to be a ridiculous idea (who really knows that much poker, who really cares about people sitting around, etc.), now it's a huge hit (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker_on_television)