Posted on 10/03/2016 1:42:30 PM PDT by 11th_VA
Ratings for National Football League (NFL) games are on the decline through the first four weeks of the 2016 season … with some blaming the #BlackLivesMatter protests initiated by San Francisco 49ers’ backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Sunday night’s matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers drew just 16.7 million viewers – the lowest primetime audience of the year.
That’s bad … but it’s even worse when you consider the previous three installments of Sunday Night Football also drew audiences that were smaller than last year by an average of 11.6 percent.
Thursday Night Football on the NFL Network is tanking, too – averaging an 11 percent drop in viewers through its first three telecasts (the 2016 Thursday night kickoff on NBC was down by eight percent, too).
Viewership for Monday Night Football is also way down – by an average of 27 percent per game from last year (in fairness, those totals included a game last week that was held opposite the first 2016 presidential debate).
NFL apologists are quick to point out that the league’s television audiences still dwarf anything else appearing on the small screen. And they are correct.
But the early returns are clearly not good for the NFL …
Sucky-quality football hasn’t helped.
Have not watched a single game, and have no intention of watching a single game.
Proof COLIN K is the most expensive player in the NFL
I just have better things to do and enjoy than watch American protestors. I left the room and am not coming back.
Well the KC-Pitt game was a blow out very early. The stands emptied out long before the game was over. That one isn’t really a good yardstick.
I watched the Ryder Cup and the celebration. Did not watch any NFL.
MY TV has not been on any NFL game this year and will continue in that manner.
Who cares!
ANY other business would have fired him by now ...
Now there have been some great College games this year.
I loved the Michigan-Wisconsin game, good old-fashioned, smash-mouth defensive Big Ten Football.
Not a down, not a dime.
Not watching the NFL. Tired of the antics of spoiled players, the avalanche of advertisements, and political correctness run amuck.
I don’t need to watch three hours of aggravation.
The NFL is a matter of complete indifference to me. The NBA devolved to this status over twenty years ago, thuggified and politicized beyond any appeal. Bread and circus, and a huge waste of capital.
Grown men hugging and rolling around on the ground is disgusting
I watched the last day of the baseball season. It was great having all the games going on at the same time, with five games having playoff-implications.
You could have turned that game last night off after the first ten minutes.
I never turned it on. Put the TV on another channel and muted - just in case they were tracking me .. and listened to Dave Ramsey ...
We still tune in to watch our team disintegrate.
I haven’t even watched the home team this year. I have watched a couple of college games. Now that golf and baseball are over I have no sports to waste time on.
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