I thought everybody watched for the commercials, since there is about 12-13 minutes of actual play in a 3.5 to 4 hour TV event. Before this kneeling crap started, I knew serious fans that stopped watching games in the traditional sense (actually sitting there ass down for 3.5/4 hours in front of the TV); they might watch shows with live highlights (of all games being played simultaneously), but the days of having sh!t (products and ideas) sold to them in over 3 hours of commercials were over.
Not to mention the predictable play and rule changes to make more scoring possible....tooooooo many penalties...and the flyover touchdowns...why is it that a pass receiver must have his feet inbounds in the endzone with possession of the ball, but a runner can just flyover the endzone line and be thrown out of bounds...but as long as the ball crossed the line during the ttansit a touchdown is awarded? Just another example of manipulating the game to get viewers..forget it.