Football is certainly not as popular as Basketball worldwide, but with the internet and cable TV it's now easy to follow the NFL, and NFL is popular worldwide even in country who have no (or very small ) football championship.
I certainly be very interested in a BB style football game. But part of the strategical challenge of Football is in making your play book following your player attributes. And for game play the fun come from trying to outguess your opponent tactics live. Doesn't need to have a complicated model, as I have played a number of boardgames who catch the spirit of the game with simple rules ans procedures.
I don't know how it will works if you have no control during the game.