Posted on 10/12/2016 9:43:28 AM PDT by 11th_VA
The painful thing about protests is they cut both ways.
The NFL is dreaming if it thinks the alarming double-digit drop in TV ratings this season has nothing to do with a fan backlash against Colin Kaepernick's protest of the American flag and national anthem.
TV ratings for "Sunday Night Football" and "Monday Night Football" are off by a whopping 16 to 20 percent so far this season, Nielsen told Sporting News on Monday.
Yet in an internal memo last week, NFL executives found “no evidence that concern over player protests during the national anthem is having any material impact on our ratings.” Instead, the league blames "unprecedented interest" in the U.S. presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In other words, nothing to see here. Move along.
Really? Is the NFL kidding us? Or just kidding itself?
Look, there are a number of reasons for the overall ratings drop across NBC, ESPN, Fox, CBS and NFL Network through Week 5.
Among them: the absence of star quarterbacks Tom Brady (who returned from suspension Sunday), the injured Tony Romo and the retired Peyton Manning; lousy football due to less practice time by players; lopsided scores; the blizzard of penalty flags slowing telecasts down; the RedZone channel; and millennial consumers cutting the cord.
The main culprit, most sports media experts say, is the presidential election.
Like the razor-close battle between George W. Bush and Al Gore did in 2000, the soap opera-like drama is siphoning viewers to news networks such as CNN and Fox News.
But every viewer counts. Does it occur to the marketing-savvy NFL that some fans are exercising their right to protest Kaepernick's protest by changing the channel?
#BoycottNFL might not be the No. 1 reason for the ratings falloff. But for the NFL to claim the "Kaepernick Effect" is non-existent looks like PR spin. Or willful blindness.
The bottom line: There's a vocal group of fans out there that sees the peaceful protest by the 49ers quarterback, and other NFL players, as anti-American, anti-police and anti-military.
We don't now how many of them there are. Right or wrong, they're offended by what they see as disrespect by Kaepernick and other NFL players toward Old Glory and "The Star-Spangled Banner."
They're tired of being lectured and hectored by TV talking heads.
These TV vigilantes are hell-bent on punishing the $13 billion league that seems to accept, even condone, the kneeldowns and raised fists by its players.
They're urging other turned-off viewers to tune out NFL games.
The NFL's right about one thing: Politics is playing a part in this.
Most of the #BoycottNFL folks seem to lean Republican or politically conservative.
Actor James Woods, one of the few conservatives in Hollywood, is cheering this crowd on.
They're also being egged on by conservative talk radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin.
Limbaugh, who resigned from ESPN in 2003 after controversial comments about Donovan McNabb, said protesting NFL players are in danger of killing the golden goose.
"The National Football League is on TV. It can easily be turned off," Limbaugh said on his national radio show. "The NFL is sponsored by beer and cars and soft drinks that can easily be not purchased. Not that hard. Just turn it off.”
In some way, #BoycottNFL seems to be born out of the same populist rage against the establishment machines that powered the Trump and Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns. And the Tea Party before that.
It's no coincidence many #BoycottNFLers are also supporters of the Republican presidential nominee.
Some use the Trump campaign hashtag #MAGA (Make America Great Again) next to #BoycottNFL.
The NFL can and should be proud of the strength of its programming. It's the TV equivalent of beachfront property in Malibu. But there's trouble in the NFL's TV paradise after a record 2015.
Just look at the early numbers.
The Wall Street Journal's Joe Flint reported the NFL's overall TV ratings fell 11 percent through Week 4. And dropped 12 percent in the advertiser-coveted 18- to 34-year-old demographic.
The falloff is hitting the NFL's primetime packages particularly hard, Nielsen told me Monday.
Over the first five games this season, average TV ratings for NBC's "Sunday Night Football" dropped 16.7 percent to 12.0 vs. 14.4 over the first five games last year. The show's average television audience slumped 14.9 percent to 21.2 million viewers from 24.9 million during the same period the year before.
Going head to head against Sunday's second U.S. presidential debate, NBC's overnight rating for Giants-Packers fell 22 percent to 10.2 from 13.1 in the same window last year.
ESPN's iconic "Monday Night Football" has been hit hard, too.
Over the first four games, average TV ratings fell 20 percent to 6.8 from 8.5 during the first four telecasts in 2015. The average "MNF" viewing audience dropped 16.9 percent to 11.3 million viewers vs. 13.6 million over first four games of 2015.
The good news: TV ratings/audiences for Fox and CBS' early and late afternoon Sunday games are holding up well. That indicates people are still watching their favorite teams on Sunday, but passing on the glut of primetime Monday, Thursday and Sunday night games unless their teams are playing.
There are other danger signs.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents in a Rasmussen poll said they're less likely to watch NFL game because of Kaepernick and other players protesting racial injustice.
The network TV suits are worried on Madison Avenue. I reported last week some TV networks are already giving back "make-good" ads to compensate advertisers for ratings shortfalls.
There's nothing networks hate more than giving away ads that would normally sell for $500,000 to $600,000 per 30 seconds. Especially when they're paying a combined $5 billion per year to air NFL games....
Click LINK to read the rest.
The NFL still doesn’t get it. Its not just about Kaepernick’s protest. That may have been the final straw for a lot of viewers but its not the only issue they have with the league and its overly commercial broadcasts.
I drive past the Redskin’s training facility everyday (have #boycottNFL bumper stickers on my car). I love it when the car behind me turns into the Redskins complex - I know they must talk about it ...
Me also - unfortunately my football loving relatives are coming at Thanksgiving ...
There's something else at play here. Some of these #BoycottNFL fanatics feel emotionally betrayed by the NFL.
Over the years, they loved the fighter jet flyovers, the giant flag displays on the field, the heartfelt salutes to the U.S. Armed Forces that some critics felt were overly militaristic.
They thought the NFL actually believed this stuff. Now they suspect the NFL was conning them all along. That it was just part of the show, along with the cheerleaders, pyrotechnics and pink ribbons for breast cancer.
Then we learned that a lot of the 'military appreciation' was actually a paid commercial out of our tax dollars! Not patriotic, just a commercial break!
Also unmentioned is the regular habit of billion$ teams regularly holding their fans in blackmail for better taxpayer-PAID stadiums and facilities. Nothing says greed quite like such actions.
Yet another NFL ASSOCIATED annoyance is the bias shown by the sports broadcasting channels. Lots of approving talk from many ex-players about these issues but several commentators have been suspended or removed for non-PC statements. Double standards has crept, nay, stormed, into the press box as well as on the field!
I’m the proud son of an American Patriot who fought in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. I and my siblings were raised to dearly respect the flag. I have also enjoyed watching NFL since the merger.
There is no doubt whatsoever that with the NFL knuckling under to left wing dirtbags I have dropped them like a hot POS. On the bright side, I’ve found other things to do that are of benefit.
My boycott of sports, all sports, is permanent, and has been since 1992. Not one down, inning, play since. Have no idea who has been winning world series, championships in college sports, super bowls, etc since I have not seen even one down or play and I don’t read about sports on the internet, other than a rare post on FR that involves sports / politics. I will NEVER go back to sports. I will NEVER to go Target again. I will NEVER buy a Government Motors vehicle.
“...NFL executives found “no evidence that concern over player protests during the national anthem is having any material impact on our ratings.”
NFL and Target leadership must attend the same customer base-building seminars.
Firstly: The NFL became a billion dollar industry on the backs of white males aged 18-50, WE are demographic that made the league what it is with our financial support and the NFL TURNED AWAY from us at every opportunity.....
Secondly: I find the term vigilante to be quite endearing :)
He's the one who lost two endorsement deals over his support of Kaepernick.
That was not lost on his fellow players, as very few players have continued to protest.
The writer begins with a cliche and an unproven assertion.
What ‘pain’ is caused by avoiding games and seditious players? None that I can see. Most, if not all, anecdotes of those avoiding NFL viewership talk about increased time for family, travel, activities, home projects, etc.
He also, as usual, mischaracterizes Limbaugh’s statements and stance. Limbaugh has been in the NFL’s corner all along, advising and even begging them to tread lightly. At no time has he actively encouraged a boycott.
Finally, have you noticed that liberal boycotts are given huge initial coverage but their ineffectiveness (eg NAACP boycott of South Carolina/Myrtle Beach) is never mentioned, whereas conservative boycotts are ignored at first until their economic impact is keenly felt? At that point, of course, the conservatives are blamed but never the offending entity.
“Correlation does not imply causation.”
Well, sometimes it does.
And in an exaggeratedly disproportionate ratio.
“They’re tired of being lectured and hectored by TV talking heads.”
Nailed it! Amen, amen, amen...bears repeating over and over again.
That was not lost on his fellow players, as very few players have continued to protest.
****************
With the players its all about money. That’s all they really care about in the end.
I hope the local politicians and voters remember this the next time a team wants taxpayers to pay for one of their playpens.
The decent, America loving players need to step up and deliver some reality to the likes of Kapernick and others. These insignificant punks should never have been allowed to become the conscience of the NFL. They never earned it and now severely damage the brand. Just like the Dixie Chicks, they had no idea who their audience was.
All the politicking was my original reason for tuning out, but “upon further review,” I’ve decided was that the NFL was becoming an idol, was bullying people over the moral views, and was embracing the worst aspects of contemporary culture, and that even some churches would alter their schedules or shorten services so as not to compete with the NFL.
I ain’t watchin’ and I ain’t drinkin’ Budweiser.
The Sporting News appears to be the only sports journalism outlet that is reporting truthfully on this.
The others are all spouting pathetic NFL spin and denial.
The NFL has a deeper underlying problem in its discrimination against white players.
Look at game films from the 1960s and 1970s. The teams today look like undisciplined mobs by comparison.
Somewhere, in a remote cabin in central Pennsylvania, Jack Lambert cackles maniacally in agreement.
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