The hardcore fans who attend games will keep showing up. Football is a religion to many of them. They’ll yell a few boos and then holler for another beer. The NFL won’t do anything unless tv ratings go into a dramatic and long standing decline.
Do like post #4 and see how long that religion lasts. Think shopping malls.
As long as NASCAR ratings keep cratering,I'm betting the NFL will keep turning a blind eye to their own ratings issues (which are due to more than just the anthem controversy).
I wonder how many hardcore fans there are, vs. casual fans.
Off topic a bit, but I’ve gone to many baseball games over the years. Maybe baseball is different than the football crowd.
But I’ve noticed over the years, while baseball attendance has hit record highs in recent years, I don’t think a lot of those people are strong baseball fans.
For example, some will ask me questions as to what happened, when a batter hit a sacrifice fly, and the runners on base advanced. They don’t know that rule of baseball.
Or I overhear comments that someone has to be a really fast runner to get a home run. They don’t understand when the ball is over the fence, he can take his time with his home run trot.
And a lot of people don’t seem to be paying attention to the game, but are playing with cellular phones, and chit chatting about things other than the game.
I recall decades ago, when I was young, going to games and talking baseball with fellow fans, and learning a lot about the game from them. Today’s fans just don’t seem as knowledgeable or interested in the game.
I don’t know if the football crowd is similar. But if a lot of today’s football fans are just casual fans, can take it or leave it, these players protests and fan revulsion of that, could really cause attendance at games to plummet.
It truly is. I know people in that situation. Their entire lives revolve around their ballclubs. I'm not exaggerating. These are people who run fantasy football teams and pull all-nighters during the NFL draft like they were Bill Belichick in real life.
It is up to the casual fans to make the NFL owners feel the pain and there are a lot of us. I've always been a casual fan and so it was easy for me to give it up entirely.