Even without the kneelers, I think the NFL’s popularity was waning. Every season is the same boring story. Everyone waits to see which NFC team will play the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
#FakeSports results seem more staged with each passing year.
I tend to agree that around 2009/2010...the NFL simply peaked out.
I think there are four essential issues that arose.
1. In terms of quality players and quality teams, I think a number of players simply slipped into the NFL back twenty years ago and pretended to be high prospects out of the NCAA. These were guys who simply didn’t have the talent that they pretended to have, and the public caught onto this.
2. I think the networks tried to create some mega-thrills which simply didn’t pan out. It’s like bringing up Monday-night games back in the 2010-2011 period and about half the games were with teams that most people had no interest in watching.
3. The attempt by sports bars to latch onto Sunday football, and Monday night football....hit some peak, and crowds started to look at the cost involved in sitting around at some sport bar for four hours.
4. Fan paraphernalia. The pricing and actual value got to a point of being a joke.
Toss in the head injury business, and the kneeling...I think you have a dying sport. It won’t surprise me in five years if they terminate three or four teams, and start a downsize process.