"What Keeps Fans on the Silent Field?": Understanding Lean-Back Football Fans via AI Sports Broadcasting in Non-Event Time

Modern media consumption habits challenge ‘lean-back’ viewers—who prefer passive viewing—to stay engaged during the frequent periods of Non-Event Time in soccer matches. Existing commentary options often fail this audience, being either too dry or too interactive. To investigate their needs, we developed ARUA, a prototype that positions users as ‘directors’ of their own AI commentary. This approach serves as a probe to understand their preferences for a more engaging viewing experience. In a qualitative study with 32 fans, we found users craft the commentary into a relational tool, tailoring its social presence and emotional tone to maintain engagement. They created proxy voices for their own emotions and curated balanced conversational panels. Our work contributes an understanding of lean-back viewers, introduces a user-directed paradigm for personalized media, and provides design principles for creating engaging, low-effort experiences that support control over social presence, emotional tone, and cognitive load.