Posted on 10/11/2016 8:08:51 PM PDT by jazusamo
Ratings for the National Football League are off substantially this season , and of course nobody at the league has the slightest idea why. It can't be due to the ungrateful arrogance of has-been 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, or the increasing politicization of the sport by lefty sportwriters (and they're all lefties) and ESPN. No, it must be something else:
The NFL has a ratings problem. The causes are many, and the leading cause is certainly up for debate. But that isn’t stopping the NFL from denying that the problem has some controversial undercurrents – or that the problem exists in the first place.Sunday Night Football between the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants drew a 10.2 overnight rating as it mostly went up against the second presidential debate, according to Sports Media Watch . It’s a steep drop from 13.1 in Week 5 of the 2015 season and the lowest overnight rating since Week 8 of the 2013 season.
The presidential debate, and the 2016 election season, are no doubt cutting into TV ratings for everyone, not just the NFL. But for an 11 percent overall drop through the first four weeks of 2016 that is likely to deepen after Week 5? Seems more like a convenient excuse.
I can think of a few others. The sport is overlong, packing a whopping 11 minutes of action into a commercial-stuffed four hours of viewing time. Except for a few quarterbacks, the players are largely interchangeable and anonymous. And the television presenttion itself is essentially unwatchable, filled with graphics that add nothing to the enjoyment of the sport.
In short, the NFL sucks. But don't expect the league to acknowledge that. Top brass would rather blame the election:
Yet, here’s the NFL sending an internal memo to all 32 teams reassuring them that the ratings are nothing to worry about. “There is no question that unprecedented interest in the Presidential election is impacting primetime ratings,” reads the letter from NFL reps Brian Rolapp and Howard Katz. Curiously, the letter brings up the effect that the backlash over the growing national anthem protests among players is having on the ratings, which they dismissed.“Finally, it is worth noting that we see no evidence that concern over player protests during the National Anthem is having any material impact on ratings. In fact, our own data shows that perception of the NFL and its players is actually up in 2016.”
Right. And black is white and in is out and up is down.
In all seriousness, the league itself may have no evidence, but I certainly do … from the hundreds of fans who literally told me they stopped watching the NFL because they were sick of the anthem protests and the injection of politics into NFL games in the first place. Is the anthem protest backlash the onlycause of the ratings decline? No. It is most certainly a confluence of a lot of different issues. But to simply deny that there is a segment of the ever-crucial 18-49 demographic that saw the anthem protests as a “last straw” kind of moment that made them turn the channel on the NFL’s diminished on-field product is to demonstrate that you are out-of-touch with your own customers.
I used to think there were three things a malignant pop culture could never ruin: music, women's bodies, and sports. Wrong on all three counts. Do yourself a favor: turn the NFL off, reclaim four or eight or twelve hours of your life per week, and go do something useful.
Meanwhile, this just in from ESPN: I rest my case.
Special added bonus: NFL player rap sheets.
Lookit how scummy it got after that!
Think JC Penney, Target and NFL all made anti social statements and their customers left never to come back.
Think JC Penney, Target and NFL all made anti social statements and their customers left never to come back.
LOL.. I was at that game— and almost left at halftime but because it was my first nfl game live I said we should hang around... The rest was crazy...
Totally. How long before they get Target’s public relations team to blame it on things like the weather?
How about Mathematics ? ... the ultimate in escapism !
With the incredible television screens and clarity, what do the networks do? Put scores, advertisement and a crawling updates, on the bottom 10% of the screen, a huge scoreboard with down and distance at that top. How about letting fans SEE the entire beautiful field and players as the play unfolds? Why have TV timeouts? Let the announcers sell products with their voices as the game rolls on, it has worked on radio for a century for baseball, and for football when it was broadcast generally.
3rd link, tap sheets, seems broke...no info or it quickly and quietly found the memory hole...
Bingo. The game is unwatchable. Big time college football is almost as bad. Football is a fine game when teams go out and play. But extended breaks every few downs kill any sense of rhythm. Get rid of the commercial breaks. That would mean a lot less money, of course, but if the fans want a decent product, the fans should simply turn off the television until the game changes.
The politicization is secondary but not unimportant. Football was always a red, white and blue all-American game. The change began years ago when the colleges sold out to television and the big bucks, and lowered standards to accommodate the recruitment of the thugs. Now thug culture is doing to the NFL what it did long ago to the NBA. It's becoming another ghetto game.
I agree thug culture is ruining football and basketball. I have gone back to watching baseball and am enjoying it very much this year.
I think your dismissal of the Rasmussen poll on why people are watching less NFL TV broadcasts is wrong, though.
While the Presidential election is a factor, you are completely dismissing the fact voters--already bombarded with political news (and increasingly political advertising!) 24/7 now--just want to watch an NFL game where such partisan politics are put aside for a few hours. For such partisan politics to be so evident during an NFL game is a HUGE turnoff to TV viewers, and that's why viewership is way down.
Also, I think your view is seriously skewed by where you have lived ever since you graduated from Eastern Washington University. Look at where you lived for long periods: Las Vegas, strongly influenced by liberal Los Angeles; Tampa, FL, the place where many people from liberal-leaning New York City retire there or have second homes there; Portland, OR, a major bastion of liberalism; West Hartford, CT, strongly influenced by liberal-leaning New York City and Boston; and now living in liberal-leaning Los Angeles itself. In short, your world view is mostly Left-leaning to start with. One wonders would your world view be not so far Left if you had worked in a city in the center of the country like Kansas City, MO or in Texas earlier in your broadcasting career?
A large number of Americans are tiring of being looked down on by the people living on the East Coast and West Coast--that's why the candidacy of Donald Trump has gotten HUGE political traction. Trump has become a political "rock star" just like Barack Obama was in 2008. Indeed, if Trump does win, it will finally show the gigantic rift between the "elites" who live on the coasts and the middle class that have been left behind in the rest of the country.
Me too Bump!
The NFL combines two of America’s greatest problems
: Violence and staff meetings. (anon)
That’s a valid point. I would look at it like NASCAR’s situation over the last ten years. They peaked in popularity and then their ratings (and ticket sales) dropped very quickly. In the entertainment business, what you find is that once you get outside your core fan base, people tend to have very short attention spans.
Later
and who cares if the animals don't stand for the country's anthem....
but the SCM drove this protest...covered it...featured it...and then the stinking weakling coaches and the nfl administration basically let it happen, encouraged it...
can you imagine if you or I came to work in our companies' attire and then publically humiliated that company and the owners just ignore it?....
we'd be fired in an instant...
Don’t think that that’s the case with the nfl. College football is still hitting new highs this year. Almost guaranteed it’s the kapernick effect.
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