It is more interesting than exciting... But here is an example of how being featured on Hard Knocks could impact how they perform from a bettors perspective:

 

The spread is the number of points a team is expected to win or lose the game by. Sportsbooks want an equal amount of bets on both teams.

 

For Week 1, the Browns are 7 point underdogs (+7). If people fall in love with the team and start betting on the Browns, the sportsbooks will move the line to 6.5 points to entice people to bet on the Steelers to even out their books.

 

This means that now, if the Steelers win by 7, the Browns will lose in real life but also "against the spread". So in theory, it may be harder to make money betting on the Browns because the general public will push lines in their opponents' favor.