I agree with your viewpoint mostly, local teams in any major sport cease to become local when they begin buying outside that region. This unfortunately happens to most popular sport. In this country that sport is football (soccer) I don't watch the Premier League for that reason. I do watch rugby, particularly large events when time presents itself since it isn't hyped up and advertised in this country the way that Soccer is. I also watch the Football World Cup since the players almost always tend to be from that country (barring a few sneaky exceptions.)

Occasionally me and some friends would watch late night US sport (NHL, MLB and NFL) at 3am after, or during, late night Undergrad work projects just to chill out. Usually accompanied by beer and pizza takeaway. This was partly because the only thing on tv at 3am in the UK that is even worthy of watching was US sport.

I'd much rather play sport first hand ( or attempt to even though the hectic lifestyle is putting weight on me like crazy) than watch it. It's hard to though with time constraints, and getting other people together to play is rather difficult outside of joining clubs. I miss the days when I could play a midfield position in soccer and do laps of the pitch like mad.