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We’re quickly approaching New Years, which is traditionally a time for reflection on the events of the past year and plans for how to do better over the next twelve months. That’s particularly true for the NFL, which has seen both its television ratings and live attendance in many stadiums plunge precipitously in 2017. As the Washington Times reports this week, the leadership in the league is busy analyzing precisely what caused all of this and how they might address it in 2018.Your first guess might logically be that the National Anthem protests were a big driving factor. That was...

In a letter sent to season-ticket holders this week, Ravens president Dick Cass acknowledged that “the onetime protest” by players before the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London has led to an increased number of empty seats and no-shows at the team’s home games. During the playing of the national anthem before that game, a 44-7 loss on Sept. 24, at least a dozen Ravens knelt in protest. The next week at M&T Bank Stadium, the Ravens prayed as a team before the national anthem.

In September, Matt reported about the Baltimore Ravens National Anthem singer who quit his job due to the National Football League protests sparked by Colin Kaepernick in a supposed attempt to highlight police brutality by kneeling during the Star Spangled banner. Joey Odoms quit, not because he did not support these players, but because of the fans who did not make an effort to understand why these protests were happening. “The tone/actions of a large number of NFL fans in the midst of our country's cultural crisis have convinced me that I do not belong there,” said Odoms on Facebook:...

Baltimore Ravens team president Dick Cass sent a letter to season-ticket holders, suite holders, and sponsors about the noticeable dip in attendance at games this season, and cited the team’s protest during the national anthem as one reason. "The numbers [of no-shows] are higher, and it is noticeable," Cass wrote. "There are a number of reasons for the no-shows, but surely the one-time protest in London has been a factor." [Snip] The NFL's ratings have fallen by nearly 20 percent since players started protesting during the national anthem two years ago.

As the NFL copes with a ratings slump and ESPN slashes $80 million in salaries after losing 15,000 subscribers a day in October, another major issue facing the league continued to play out in week 15 – terrible attendance. Ravens vs. Browns, Start 2nd Qtr While many blame the kneeing epidemic of unpatriotic players refusing to stand for the National Anthem – which started in the summer 2016 pre-season by former San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick, others point to a boring season, cord cutters and broke millennials staying home. Either way, it’s ugly. Since most NFL attendance figures are...

The NFL has struggled mightily this year to get people to watch their primetime games, as the ratings from the Week 15 edition of Thursday Night Football continue to come in, it’s clear that those struggles will continue until the end of the year. The clash between the Denver Broncos and the Indianapolis Colts drew only a 7.4/13 rating in metered markets. That poor showing resulted in a new season low for TNF on both CBS and NBC and simulcast on NFL Network. According to Deadline Hollywood, “Looking at the close December 7 game between the Atlanta Falcons and the...

It seems paradoxical: The Ravens, who have sold out every home game since they arrived in Baltimore in 1996, are advertising tickets for Sunday’s contest at M&T Bank Stadium. But this is where the Ravens find themselves in 2017: Contemplating the prospect of empty seats, and appealing to fans to “Win Together. Purchase your tickets today!” even as the team is contending for what would be its first playoff berth since 2014. Thousands of fans are trying to resell their tickets to the sold-out game Sunday against the Detroit Lions at 71,000-seat M&T Bank Stadium via Ticketmaster, the team’s official...

Colin Kaepernick’s anti-anthem antics have hurt the NFL big-time—the league lost roughly a million regular-season viewers last year, compared to the 2013 and 2014 seasons. In total, this was about a 6 percent drop in viewership. But that’s nothing compared to this year’s carnage. In the wake of the latest round of player protests (and President Trump’s twitter assault), viewership is in free-fall. Forbes reports that this season’s television viewership is down by 3 million relative to the 2013 and 2014 seasons. And when accounting for the telecast’s average reach, and live ticket sales, the NFL’s viewership is down by...

As Roger Goodell, Jerry Jones, and the NFL engage in an ugly internal fight over the future leadership of the NFL, TV partners at CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC are staring at their own internal conflicts — namely a substantial decline in NFL ratings that is on pace to cost the four networks up to $500 million in lost revenue. Already several hundred million in lost revenue has been booked in 2017 and it has the league’s top executives and television partners scrambling to figure out what went wrong. How did a league that was setting ratings records in 2015...

Well, who would have thought that putting out a bad product and spitting on the American flag would be bad for ratings. The National Football League has seen its week eleven ratings and they’re not good: one million fewer viewers from last year. The NY Post reported that the ongoing battle between Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been the center of NFL coverage. Goodell has put up insane contract demands of a $50 million salary, along with free flights, and health care for his family—for life. This coming from a man who...

A few weekends ago, at a seersucker-in-November southern horse-racing event I attended with some lovely and friendly people who will nevertheless be the first ones taken out when the revolution comes, a family friend, an older white man, asked me what I, the one sportswriter he knew, thought of the kneeling NFL players. I told him that while I stand for the anthem myself, I supported the players’ right to express themselves politically and encouraged him to worry less about the kneeling and more about what the players were trying to say. He snorted and said he was done with...

Thanksgiving’s primetime clash between the Redskins and the Giants registered a 9.7 in metered markets, down 10 percent from last year.

The NFL Players Association is to be commended for an easy Contact Us page the is not full of clutter and popups. Wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. Let them know you did not watch them today.

WASHINGTON - The playoff hopes for the Washington Redskins took a big hit Sunday after they lost to the New Orleans Saints and blew a 15-point fourth quarter lead in the process. After the loss, it appears the Redskins fan base is also reeling as well based off of the ticket prices for their next home game on Thanksgiving. The Redskins will have a short turnaround this week as they will host the New York Giants at Fedex Field on Thursday. While the matchup will be a nationally televised battle between NFC East rivals, there are tickets available on the...

Sunday, November 12th, I joined fellow veterans in their national boycott of the NFL. However, I do not sense that thousands tuning out the games made much of a difference. NFL players and management still display a screw-you-America attitude. America hating Leftists never back off or surrender ground. As a matter of fact, to continue poking a finger in the eye of normal Americans, Leftist rag GQ magazine outrageously named Colin Kaepernick its Citizen of the Year. Kaepernick is the player who started NFL players shamefully kneeling during our national anthem. Sports media instantly declared Kaepernick, a mediocre quarterback, a...

Papa John’s apologized Tuesday for comments made by CEO John Schnatter, who had blamed the NFL and protesting players for the pizza chain’s struggles this football season. In a three-tweet mea culpa, the Louisville-based company did a 180 and said it supported players’ right to protest. During an earnings call two weeks ago, Schnatter lashed out at kneeling players and league officials for not solving the controversy. “The statements made on our earnings call were describing the factors that impact our business and we sincerely apologize to anyone that thought they were divisive. That was definitely not our intention,” Papa...

NFL owners have reportedly brought up the idea of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones forfeiting the franchise. On Sunday, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk cited a league source who said "multiple owners already have been discussing the possibility, which flows from Article VIII of the NFL's Constitution and Bylaws." One of the sections of the article allows the commissioner to essentially force the forfeiture of a team if the owner "has been or is guilty of conduct detrimental to the welfare of the league or professional football" and a $500,000 fine is deemed "not adequate or sufficient." Florio granted...

The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers have a historic rivalry. But after several weeks of NFL National Anthem protests even Soldier Field in Chicago was half empty today.

Pinned Tweet Empty Seats Galore‏ @EmptySeatsPics 31 Aug 2015 More My dear followers: Your teams don't have the best fans. Your city isn't the best sports town. Just the realities of life. 70 replies 231 retweets 1,004 likes Reply 70 Retweet 231 Like 1.0K Empty Seats Galore Retweeted Eugene Frenette‏ @GeneFrenette 13m13 minutes ago More Replying to @CurtisDvorak @Jaguars #Jaguars announced crowd, which is tickets distributed, was 60,835. Definitely not that many there. 6,000 tickets were giveaways to military.

Impy Presents: Bender's NFL LIVE THREAD Week 10 Thursday, Nov 9, 2017 (All times Eastern) Seattle at Arizona 8:25 pm NFLN University of Phoenix Stadium Sunday, Nov 12, 2017 Cincinnati at Tennessee 1:00 pm FOX Nissan Stadium Cleveland at Detroit 1:00 pm CBS Ford Field Green Bay at Chicago 1:00 pm FOX Soldier Field L.A. Chargers at Jacksonville 1:00 pm CBS EverBank Field Minnesota at Washington 1:00 pm FOX FedEx Field New Orleans at Buffalo 1:00 pm FOX New Era Field N.Y. Jets at Tampa Bay 1:00 pm CBS Raymond James Stadium Pittsburgh at Indianapolis 1:00 pm CBS Lucas Oil...