If ratings are down 20%, attendance and sale of merchandise down about the same, the players should get hit much worse than 20% when negotiating new contracts.
The owners will still have their fixed cost to cover. The decline in revenues will bring even greater squeeze on player’s contracts.
Checking Amazon deals today with Christmas in mind, NFL stuff like kids pjs, coffee mugs, etc was 40% off. I hope soon they’re giving it away and still no takers,
Player salaries are tied to advertising revenues - it's almost a one-to-one correlation. The bucket money for salaries comes from TV advertising revenue. That's why its so important not to watch.
I actually went to a Wing's Place last night to pick up Carry-Out. Of course the games were on and I saw advertising I had not seen on regular TV while I waited. It felt good to know I was clueless about a lot of products being advertised during the NFL games because I have not been watching this season.