Posted on 10/14/2017 2:30:55 PM PDT by 11th_VA
The protests by NFL players during the National Anthem have been hurting the league's television ratings since last year.
This season, as the protests have continued, the television ratings and ramifications for broadcasters have worsened.
More bad news for the NFL: an analyst for Credit Suisse yesterday downgraded his price and earnings per share targets for 21st Century Fox in part due to NFL ratings that are coming in below market expectations.
"We trim our 2018/19 EPS forecasts … ahead of Q1 earnings," analyst Omar Sheikh wrote in a note to clients Thursday. "The key near term headwinds are soft NFL ratings and the risk that the Sky transaction is blocked by UK regulators."
The downgrade comes at a time when the NFL is negotiating two important distribution deals that end after this season: Verizon's $250 million a year streaming agreement and the $450 million a year Thursday Night Football deal for games shared by CBS and NBC.
Through five weeks, the league's ratings are substantially lower this season, according to Nielsen data obtained by Sporting News.:
The league's average TV audience through Week 5 of the 2017 season dropped 7% vs. the same period of the 2016 season, and the average game audiences are down 18% compared to the first five weeks of the 2015 season. The NFL's average TV audience (including Sunday afternoon, Sunday night, Monday night and Thursday night games) slid to 15.156 million viewers through Week 5 of the 2017 season, down 7.42% from an average of 16.371 million viewers through the same period of the 2016 season, and 18% lower from the first five weeks of the 2015 season.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
The cuts will be in future contracts, not the current ones. There are new contracts written every year.
There will be a similar situation with ticket sales. Most tickets for this season are already sold.
The contracts with the networks renew every 10 years. They will be negotiated soon based on the viewership ratings at that time.
Everyone involved with the league will be financially affected in due time, including the players. Be patient fellow patriot.
That was tried years ago by the USFL. The USFL sued the NFL and won! The award was $1.00 and with triple damages, the award was $3.00, three dollars! The NFL is powerful and far reaching. (into the courtroom) but this latest episode is of their own making and I hope that they go down in flames as a league. BOYCOTT THE BASTARDS!
I’m looking forward to the day when ticket sales, TV viewership, souvenir sales, etc., all drop to the point where pays get cut, bonuses disappear, squads get downsized, etc., and the kneeling knuckleheads try to schmooze their way back in with the fans; and the fans tell them to go pound sand. Who is advising these arrogant idiots?
There's the AFL. They're down to five teams, but with enough fan support they could become a viable alternative.
I noticed the LFL put out an ad committing to showing respect the for flag at their games. I think it's time they replaced those sexy uniforms with real sports uniforms, and we respect them as athletes and patriots instead of ogling them as sex objects.
I’m in the process of researching replacement for DirTV because even though I don’t watch the NFL channel or ESPN, they are still part of the package. Going to cut the cord so these channels and NFL get money from this subscriber. May take a bit of time to figure out a replacement — maybe ROKU equip with other specific channels. The pocketbook is the only way to hurt NFL, owners and their immature players (or thugs)
Trump lead that lawsuit as a USFL team owner too.
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Collective team NFL player salaries are set by salary cap. The salary cap is predicated on revenue. So, yes I think player's salaries will decline.
Same goes for the Dallas Cowgirls, New Orleans Aints, and New York Yets.
But the contracts of some number of players come up every year. If the declines continue, it will begin to affect the ccontracts players up for renewal and free agency can negotiate. And if will affect roookie contracts.
Some players who should really start thinking about this are the college players with pro potential.
Have only spent about 10 minutes on the Seattle Seaturkeys this year, and that was near the beginning of the season. They linked arms - yahoo! - which was really a protest that they did not want to look like a protest. And Michael Bennett does a “black power” salute after sacking a white quarterback. Racist, racist, racist. And not to mention how he got apprehended in Las Vegas “just for being black.” Right, Michael, right. And just how is that lawsuit coming along?
“Don’t hold your breath. Conservatives are almost always ineffective at boycotting. It’s like herding cats.”
Conservatives lack hate and unity...things of which the left have no shortage.
I don’t have a lot of faith that it will last. Of course, I live in packer country where football is church and Rogers is a god. Blech! I see so many GB Slacker shirts, I just shake my head.
Good hell is a useless, ill educated (business wise) Bureaucrat with about as much cred as a 3 dollar shoe.
I appreciate that, FRiend. Believe me, I waited decades for Trump, and can wait a LONG time for the boycott to reach the responsible parties.
But just like with the financial crisis..people smiled and railed against "fat cat bankers" getting their just deserts, when it was the secretaries, middle managers, and other 95-percenters who got walloped initially (and, in some ways, forever). In this case, I suspect it'll be the guy making $10/hr parking your car at the stadium who gets shafted while the anti-Americans come out relatively unscathed.
But I can go the distance. I got faith.
Now THAT is an excellent thesis. However, it will come to fruition IF the boycott has legs AND if the kneeling jackwagons feel the financial impact while patriots come out unscathed.
That's a lotta ifs but hope springs eternal.
When living near Seattle, I never missed a Seahawk’s game. That includes their superbowl win and the stupidest 3rd down call ever on yard line in the following year, when they missed winning the superbowl by literally 1 yard.
Now living near Jacksonville, I am boycotting the Jaguars, which were so bad last year, but have won a lot of games this year. Kaeprenick did not bother me that much last year, since he was only one oddball. But the entire team of millionaires (on our dime) dis-respecting the flag and anthem is impossible to overlook.
My boycott against NFL stands solid.
Short term yes, but long term, they, and mostly their replacements, will feel it big.
Everything to do with the NFL is under contract, and so this season it appears nothing is affected. But the broadcasters are being hurt right now, because they sold advertisements to companies guaranteeing X amount of viewers, which they are no longer getting. So they have to make good by broadcasting ads for free until the difference is made up. At the point President Trump made his first NFL tweet, the broadcasters had already lost $200 million. It will just keep piling up.
When the broadcast rights contract is up and being renegotiated, the NFL is going to get a pay cut. The next contract will not be as big as the current one. Next downstream will be the teams, who will take a smaller amount from the new contract. And finally, the players. Older players who usually get good fat contracts will either be cut or get a smaller amount. Teams will play more new cheap league minimum players.
Many times it is painful to achieve a goal.
As they say, “gold has to endure the intense heat in the furnace to become gold from the dusty ore.”
I have no doubt that the NFL will surrender after feeling the effects of boycott in their pocketbook. One season of giving up football is painful, but essential to achieve a worthwhile goal.
Now I can breath again, thanks!
(inside joke here, folks).
Leni
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